


Whispers in the Dark

by Kei (adakie)



Series: Through Darkest Night [1]
Category: Undertale (Video Game)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Baby Blasters, Angst with a Happy Ending, Child Abuse, Conditioning, Gen, Heavy Angst, Hurt/Comfort, Major Character Injury
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-03-04
Updated: 2016-07-18
Packaged: 2018-05-24 15:51:21
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 12
Words: 62,619
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6158718
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/adakie/pseuds/Kei
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Subjects WD.G – E2 – 001 – S and WD.G – E2 – 002 – P were created to be the perfect hunters, capable of taking the soul of any human that dared enter the underground.  They were designed to follow orders without question, obedient and emotionless, but things don't always go as planned.  1S and 2P have plans of their own which lead them all the way to the sleepy town of Snowdin and the back door of a certain fiery bartender, but they've brought more than their share of trouble with them.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> I'm finally getting around to migrating this fic over from tumblr. Yay!! I won't be putting it up all at once though. Like with Lost and Found, it's going to go up a chapter at a time with a few days to a week in between each (at least until it catches up with its tumblr equivalent). 
> 
> I really can't express how awesome the baby blaster AU fandom is! The au itself is amazing, the fans of it are amazing, the people who write and draw for it are amazing!! (and then there's me, not quite so amazing but reeeeally enthusiastic~) If you don't know how all this started you have GOT to go read Trust. It's by the au's creator and it's absolutely superb. Go check it out, you'll be glad you did~.
> 
> That said ... my take on all this is a lot darker. That might not be your cup of tea and that's just fine, but fair warning, this is a bleak little fic at the start. It will get better though. I didn't put that 'happy ending' tag up there just for show.

The sound of bone scraping against rock echoed off the walls of a small, cramped room.  A skeleton child was curled up near the door, arms wrapped tightly around his thin frame.  He pressed his body against the cold metal of the wall, telling himself over and over again not to look at what was happening just behind him.  He had to keep watch, to focus and listen like he’d said he would, he couldn’t let himself be distracted by …

He glanced back.  The hunched figure of a creature, skeletal like himself, dragged its claws along the ground with a sick, scraping squeal.  The keratin of most other animals and monsters would have worn down easily, but this creature was different.  This one was built of solid bone, hard to break and harder to file.  Bits of bone were worn away by its constant, mechanical movements, turning to dust on the floor as the creature’s claws were slowly thinned and sharpened.  The child looked away, feeling faintly nauseous.  He didn’t want to watch his brother do this to himself.  

The sound of distant footsteps made him freeze.  He held perfectly still, not even daring to breathe, and listened to see if they might turn away.  Instead the sound drew closer, and he scrambled over to his sibling.  The boy made a whimpering, almost canine kind of sound.  'Danger,’ he whined in a language that had no words, for he knew the other skeleton would understand.  The answer was a soft huff of air, stuttering and inquisitive.  

“I hear him,” the child whispered.  His voice was rough with disuse and, as always, sounded strange even to him.  They were not meant to speak, not really.  

The creature stilled as well, pinpricks of light gleamed in the dark depths of wide eye sockets.  He inched further back into the shadows, his shoulders hunching as he curled further into himself, and his light flickered once before fading away until only the darkness remained.  Slowly, he began to change.  His muzzle shrank, bifurcated jaw fusing together.  Limbs realigned themselves with painful sounding snaps and pops.  Ruined claws shrank and became thin, trembling fingers.  The child crawled closer, wrapping his arms around his sibling and crooning softly to him as he struggled to remain silent through the worst of the change.  The black band strapped tight around the bones of his neck glimmered with faint traces of blue and gold light as it gave off an unnatural heat that even the child could feel.  He tried not to think about the matching band secured around his own neck.  

The footsteps were closer now, and each one made the child’s magic race a little faster.  He watched with relief as the last traces of the creature vanished, melting back into the familiar form of a skeletal child so much like himself.  The other boy’s features were more rounded than his own, his eye sockets larger and his jaw set into a gentler curve than what the child himself possessed, and though he was older he was certainly not taller.  Still, when he looked at his sibling he saw the one thing in the whole world that was like him.  The only thing which offered him comfort and love, and which he wanted so very much to protect.  His brother.  A shaking hand, still bearing traces of dust, brushed gently against the side of his face and the older boy’s eyes glowed with silent thanks.  The child understood.  He always did.  

A tall figured came to stand just outside their door, blocking the window and momentarily plunging their small room into darkness.  The shrill beeps of something being keyed in to the door’s electronic lock rang out, creating a familiar pattern that was just as cheery as it was ominous, and the lock clicked open.  The child tried to press himself and his sibling against the far wall of their room even though he knew it was useless.  The door swung open, smooth and silent, and a tall man stood silhouetted in the light from the lab outside.

“1-S.  Come.”

The older boy stood, momentarily placing a comforting hand against the child’s shoulder in a gesture just subtle and quick enough to go unnoticed by the tall man.  They’d had a lot of practice at that kind of thing.  The child didn’t want to let him go.  He wanted to cling tight to his brother, to protect him from the man other monsters called ‘Doctor’.  He knew what would happen if he tried such things though.  They both still had the marks to remind them.  He let his hands slip away, clutching instead and the thin, papery material of his gown as he watched the other skeleton leave.  The door swung shut behind him, locking in place with a soft click and a faint beeping sound.

The child got up, quickly retreating to the one spot in the little room that would let him see everything that went on in the lab.  He had to strain to see some things, as the window was built for fully grown monsters and certainly not the likes of him and his sibling, but he did so without complaint.  He watched as his brother followed the tall man, obedient and silent.   The child was glad.  He didn’t like it when his sibling chose to disobey.  

The man took a familiar device which looked like a small, black box from his pocket.  He clicked the first of a series of buttons that ran along its side and began speaking into it.  His voice was strange compared to other monsters that the child had heard, the words coming out differently though he could still understand them.  “Subject WD.G – E2 – 001 – S.  Examination and routine testing.  It has been five days since the experimental procedure to boost the attack power of 1-S resulted in failure.  Subject is responsive and follows commands.”  

Slipping the black box into a pocket of his long white coat where it would remain close enough to record what he said, the man held out a hand over the small form of the child’s sibling.  Magic shown in the air, gleaming like light reflecting off their widow.  The older boy stayed perfectly still, not even breathing.  They both knew this part well.  “Health, defenses, and strength still low.  No signs of improvement or recovery.  Backlash from failed procedure looks to be permanent.”  The magic faded away and the man looked down, clearly displeased.  “How disappointing.”

Though his sibling showed no hint of reaction, fear seized the child.  Bad things happened when they heard that word.  He silently pleaded for the older boy to do well on the tests today.  

The tall man waved his hand again, this time in a different gesture that was quick and almost dismissive.  Light flared through the older boy’s collar, momentarily illuminating the black band and turning it a deep blue.  “Change,” he said, the command strong and undeniable.  Even the child still locked in the room wanted to obey, though he didn’t dare try.

The transformation was easier now that the collar no longer hindered the boy’s magic.  He didn’t even tremble as his bones reshaped themselves, stretching and twisting till they clicked into a new alignment.  It was as simple as breathing.  After all, this was what they had been designed to do.  The newly formed creature sat on his haunches, awaiting instruction.  His thin tail was wrapped around him, tucked close beside his bony paws.  The child saw that for the subtle show of fear that it was.  He hoped that the tall man did not.  

Doctor stepped aside, pointing to a single lifeless dummy in a row of identical empty vessels which stood against the far wall.   “Destroy.”  

The creature sprang to his feet, hunched low to the ground so as it give his claws a better grip.  Bright blue light flared beneath his ribs, making the thin garment tied around him glow a soft teal.  A high pitched whine sang through the air as he gathered his power, his magic burning hotter and brighter, sparks of white and blue jumping from his clenched jaws and blazing in his eyes.  He arched his spine, fighting to contain the magic just a bit longer until the force of it was so great that if he didn’t release it he would surely shatter into dust.  The child knew the feel of it.  The burn in his chest and throat.  The taste of raw power.  The need to push himself to his breaking point for fear of what might happen if he didn’t.  

His sibling opened his mouth, lower jaw splitting and flaring out wide, and a beam of blinding energy shot out of him.  It struck the dummy with pinpoint accuracy, enveloping the target in a steady blast until only a warped, half melted metal stand and a rain of charred stuffing remained.  Even though they were placed well apart from one another, the dummies on either side were faintly scorched.  The creature staggered a bit on his paws, but recovered a moment later and returned to his previous position as he had been trained to do.  Wisps of pale smoke rose from his jaws as he panted.  The light of his eyes was dim.  

“Hmm,” the tall man muttered as he surveyed the damage.  “Attack power altered but remains decent if sustained.  May require further research.  Come,” he called as he turned his back on the ruined dummies, crossing the lab with just a few strides of his long legs.  He didn’t even look back to make sure the child’s sibling obeyed, though the creature did so without hesitation.  Bone claws clicked along the floor as he followed the man, keeping a consistent and carefully measured distance between them.  

The man reached a large door, solid metal and protected by one of those electronic locks like theirs was but without the window, and opened it.  It led into a large room where square sections of floor would rise up in columns, creating new and complex patterns each time they were activated so that the path through them was never the same twice.  He retrieved another mechanical contraption from his pockets, this one much smaller than the first.  It was sort of round and flat on one side with a white knob sticking out of it and small wheels that would make it race along the ground.  He calmly wound the little knob and tossed the now whirring thing into the room where it started zipping about in unpredictable paths.  A button near the door started the room itself, causing gears to grind and platforms to move.

“Hunt.”

The creature leapt without hesitation, darting into the moving, changing maze.  The child liked the maze, even if sometimes it was difficult and falling from the tall columns hurt, and knew that his brother felt much the same way.  It was interesting, even fun, when the things they had to hunt weren’t actually alive.  He strained to see what was going on in the other room, catching fleeting glimpses of white bone as his sibling darted about.  Eventually he returned, squeezing through a gap just barely big enough to let him slip past, and sat at the man’s feet.  He held the small device in his jaws, its wheels still spinning.  The man held out a hand and he dropped the little machine into it.  The creature sat back, panting hard in a way he never used to after a run through the maze.  

“Interesting,” the man said as  he pocketed the thing once more.  “Subject appears to tire more easily but is notably faster than before.  Stamina may improve further with increased recovery time.”

He turned away, starting back towards the center of the lab, but stopped unexpectedly.  The creature, who had similarly rose in expectation of the next command, stopped as well.  Confusion flashed through his eyes, but he stayed as still and silent as he could under the calculating gaze of the tall man.

“Heel,” the man said at last, and the creature was quick to comply.  He sat by the man’s feet, tail flicking nervously behind him.  The man watched him a moment, making that soft 'hmm’ sound he made sometimes when faced with a particularly interesting problem.  “Stay.”

The tall man walked away, but the creature remained.  He tucked his tail close to his paws once more, breathing heavy as he fought to maintain the appearance of calm that the man liked to see.  He wasn’t fooling the child, who shared his sibling’s unease.  This wasn’t right.  The tall man always did the puzzle tests after the  maze.  The child liked the puzzle tests, because nothing got hurt.  Why weren’t they going to the tables?  What was Doctor doing?!  

The man picked up an object that the child recognized.  It was a heavy thing, hollowed out in the middle with a curved handle on one side.  The man would often drink a dark, strong smelling liquid from it.  Blue light encircled the object and it levitated from the man’s hand.  The child blinked and suddenly the object was moving, streaking through the air with just a flick of the tall man’s wrist.  It rocketed towards his sibling, aimed straight for his skull.  A scream rose and died in the child’s throat without ever becoming a reality.  He knew better than to cry out when bad things happened in the lab.  The child always learned from his punishments.  

The object hit the ground and shattered, dark liquid and thick shards of white scattering everywhere.  It hadn’t struck the creature.  In fact, the creature was no longer on his assigned mark.  He was barely a pace to the left, standing with his claws dug into the floor and his spine arched as power flared in his chest and mouth.  He stared, eyes wide with fear, at the broken remains of the thing that should by all rights have hit him.  

“Very interesting,” said the man as he approached, walking around the frozen form of the creature in a slow circle.  “Subject’s reaction time is greatly increased.  Perhaps a side effect of the DT used in the procedure.  Levels should be recalibrate before procedure is attempted again.”  He stopped, standing just in front of the child’s sibling.  A slow, pleased smile, unexpected and strange, spread across his face.  “It may prove to be useful after all.  Change.”

The creature looked up at the man.  He was shaking, breathing in short, sharp pants as magic flickered uncertainly in his eyes and under his ribs.  He had never been attacked like that before.  The man had hurt them, often in fact, but that was different.  That was needles and breaking and magic that burned like fire.  This was attack.  They had been trained to fight what attacked them, to hunt and trap and destroy.  What was the creature meant to do?  He didn’t know.  The child didn’t know either, and it frightened him.

“1-S,” the man said, his voice deep and commanding, “Change.”  

The words were their own form of magic, but the creature fought against them.  He backed away, shaking all over, sparks jumping from his open jaws.  The child watched, helpless and sick with dread.  They both knew what was coming.  Disobedience was not tolerated, no matter the circumstances.  

The man snapped his fingers and the black band secured around his sibling’s neck glowed with magic.  He winced, stumbling backwards as his eyes went dark, and hissed threateningly.  Power surged white hot in his mouth, but it didn’t last.  Magic leapt from the collar in gleaming shades of blue and yellow.  Deep blue smothered the power in his chest, making it fizzle out with a weak sputter.  Electric yellow bolts shocked him until he staggered and fell, collapsing into a convulsing heap of bone.  He laid there twitching in the wake of the powerful magic, pale trails of smoke rising lazily from his body.  The man watched  him calmly, never betraying the slightest hint of emotion.  He waved his hand and the magic of the collar deactivated once more.  

“001 – S.  Change form.”

The creature heard and he obeyed.  When said that way, there was no possible way for him to do otherwise.  The child looked away as the creature shrank, taking on a smaller and more harmless form against his will.  

“Return.”

He looked back in time to see his sibling push himself up, shakily rising to his feet.  He stumbled and fell, and for a moment the child feared that the man might punish him again, but he was able to rise once more and slowly make his way towards the little room they shared.  The shrill beeps sounded their song again and the door opened.  His sibling stood in the shadow of the tall man, swaying dangerously.  The child couldn’t help himself.  He rushed forward, already reaching out to help steady the older boy.

“2-P, back.”

Immediately the child froze in his tracks.  He shuffled back, hanging his head in shame, hoping against hope that he hadn’t just earned the two of them further punishment.  The older boy shuffled to the center of the room and turned to face the man, try and failing to remain still the way he was meant to.  Two white blocks of food were deposited on the floor for them.  Some days the child would scramble to retrieve them, eager to relieve the ache of hunger, but that day the tasteless, waxy substance held no appeal.  Not when his sibling stood there trembling.

The tall man closed the door, locking it in place just as he always did.  “Subject 1-S may require further conditioning,” he muttered into the boxy black device as he walked out of sight.  Both children listened closely as the sound of his footsteps faded away.  

When the last echoes of him were finally gone, leaving them in silence, the older boy let himself fall.  He crumbled to his knees, shaking all over, and the child rushed to his side.  He guided his sibling to rest against him, hugging the other close to to his chest.  Lingering traces of magic from the older boy’s punishment made his spine feel painfully hot against the child’s ribs, but he didn’t care.  He nuzzled his sibling and crooned their word for one another over and over again in both the way of monsters and the language that had no words.  'Brother’.  

The other child answered in kind, though the sound wasn’t what it should be.  It was harsh, burned away by his own power until even the child had trouble understanding.  Very little about him seemed to be as it should.  For so long now, even more so since the tall man had brought him back strangely still and barely breathing, he’d smelled like chemicals and the sickly sweet wrongness that the child knew came from Doctor’s needles.  Now he smelled like dust and pain and the sharp bite of raw power.  The child held on tighter, not knowing which was worse.  

“Brother.  Safe.”  'Everything’s alright.’  The child flitted back and forth between the two languages, slipping easily from the the growls, clicks, and trills he knew best to the words his sibling had helped him learn and back again.  'He is gone.  We are alone.’  “Alone.  It’s safe now.”  

The older boy curled up in his arms, seeking warmth now that the burning was fading from his bones, and the child was more than happy to oblige.  He retrieved the small blocks of food and then pulled them both into a corner where they often slept, clinging to one another with only each other’s magic for warmth.  They’d had something else once, a large piece of fabric that his brother had called a blanket, but it had been taken away from them after one too many disobedient rebellions.  The child tried to convince himself that he didn’t miss its softness and warmth.  

He tried to feed his sibling, breaking off a corner of the thick white substance for him, but the offering was refused with a soft huff of disinterest.  The older boy’s eyes gleamed in the dark shadows of their room, one strong and bright and the other flickering in and out.  They cast a faint white glow that had always comforted the child, soothing away his bad dreams and calming him when he came back aching and burning from the tall man’s more elaborate tests.  This time though, they shone not with the worried kindness he knew so well but something harder, sharper, more determined.  

'tonight,’ his sibling said with a soft clicking hiss.    

'The plan?  No!’ the child whimpered in distress.  He knew just what the other was thinking and it wasn’t good.  'Not tonight.’  “He hurt you.”

'tonight,’ he repeated, undaunted by the younger boy’s fears. 'i’ll get us out.’

The child shook his head, unable to hold back a sorrowful, keening whine.  It couldn’t be tonight, it just couldn’t.  They had planned and dreamed for so long, but now … now he wasn’t so sure it was worth it.  He wanted all this to stop just as much as the older child did but the risk frightened him.  If they tried it now, when his sibling was still hurting, the plan might fail.  If it went wrong … he couldn’t go on without his brother.

The older boy wrapped thin arms around him, comforting the child as best he could.  He made his magic hum, soft and gentle, and rocked them both until the other’s whimpering finally stopped.  He struggled through words, half of which sounded more like the low growls of their own language than that of true monsters.  “i won’t leave you.”

He wanted to believe, more than anything, but he knew the plan.  He knew the risks.  Tears rose up in the child’s eye sockets, threatening to overflow and spill down his face.  His sibling hugged him tighter.  

“i love you,” he managed to say, though forcing the words out pained him, then he crooned it softly in their way as well.  'i love you brother.’

'I love you too,’ the child answered back with a soft, whistling trill.

'won’t let him hurt you again.’  His sibling growled low in his throat, the sound gravely with the persistent burning ache left by his magic.  'tonight we run.’


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Ooh wow, thanks so much for the amazing response to this so far! I'm so glad that people are liking it~. Even though some of you I'm sure are people from tumblr just going 'hey it's over here now too', the fact that you stopped by means a lot, thank you~! That said ... ooh my this chapter is dark.
> 
> WARNING - This contains self harm in that injury is caused to a person by said person. It's a self sacrifice really, and very much plot-contextual, but I didn’t want to take any chances with trigger warnings. If reading this would be too much for you, please take care of yourself. Be good to you, you deserve it.

He didn’t want to do this.  For so many days now he’d watched his sibling sharpen his claws on the unforgiving stone floor of their room, filing them down to razor sharp points even as he left a thin trail of his own dust behind.  Tonight he would put them to use.  Tonight, they would run … or die trying.  

The child called 2-P stubbornly put that thought out of his head.  The tall man wouldn’t end their lives, not even for something this bad.  He told the other monsters that they were useful tools, some of his greatest successes.  He’d spent so much time on them.  So much training.  So many tests.  So many injections that burned their way through the boy’s very marrow.  He wouldn’t just throw all that away because of what they were about to do … right?  No, there was no way he would destroy them.  All he had to worry about was making sure that his sibling survived the night.  

The two of them ate most of their daily rations, leaving a few chunks of the thick, white substance for after the first part of their plan was over.  'Just in case,’ his sibling had trilled to him as he’d placed the food in the child’s hands.  He didn’t want to think about what that really meant.  Then, he’d changed.  Blue magic had arced from his collar, trying to restrain his own powers and lock him into his current shape.  Neither of them had been surprised, the tall man always made certain their collars were active before he left them.  What the man didn’t know was that the band’s magic wasn’t as strong as it used to be.  Or, perhaps, it was that the children had become stronger than he’d thought.  

It was difficult and painful, the way changing never should be, but the older boy had slowly shifted into his other form.  He was rested now, at least as much as he allowed himself to be, and the younger child knew with a  sick sense of dread that it was time to begin.  'Are you sure?’ he whimpered.

‘i can do this,’ the older boy hummed in the language with no words, 'we’ll be free.  he won’t hurt you again.’

'We could wait.’

“No,” his sibling tried to say, though it came out more as a growl than a real word.  His long jaws weren’t suited for monster words, and his voice was still rough and raw with the burn of powerful magic.  He growled instead, clicking and chattering.  'the needles.  the test.  tall man will try again.  then will try on you.’

There were so many tests, more tests than there were days he’d lived, but he knew the one his sibling meant; the one that struck fear in their very souls.  He would never forget holding his brother on that first endless night, rocking him and chittering softly though he could not be heard, trying to coax the faint flickering of his sibling’s soul back to life.  The tall man had called the test a failure.  Catastrophic, he’d said.  Disaster.  Backlash.  Might not survive … but 1-S had.  He was weak and weary but alive, and now the tall man knew that something else had changed in him as well.  He was interested, curious enough to even alter the tests.  The children knew what happened when the man was curious.  The younger boy shivered, rubbing at his arms and the countless tiny holes that the man’s needles had made in his bones.  'Be careful,’ he whined.  

The creature that was his brother stood, bone claws clicking faintly on the ground as he prowled forward with the natural grace of a true hunter.  He pressed the top of his skull against the child’s hand, nudging him until he gave in and wrapped his arms around the creature’s neck.  A deep, loving purr rumbled in his chest, loud enough to make his bones vibrate faintly.  The younger child matched it with a slightly higher pitched purr of his own.  With one last fond nuzzle, the creature pulled away.  'don’t be afraid,’ he trilled.

The child tried to look away as his sibling retreated into the darkest corner of their room.  He covered his eye sockets with his hands, blocking out the sigh as the creature settled down and began experimentally testing the edge of his collar with thin, sharpened claws.  He shivered and turned away, determined to spare himself, but the very first soft sound of distress had the child staring wide eyed, unable to tear his gaze away.  

The creature wedged his claws into the tight space between the thick material of his collar and the pale vertebrae of his neck.  He pulled at the band, yanking on it for all he was worth, and yellow magic flared up in sparks which made him twitch and writhe.  Still, he refused to stop.  He pulled hard on the band, slender claws slipping free and ripping into it as the sharpened tips grazed its edge.  He lay there panting for a moment, riding out the shock of yellow magic, and tested the rip with a hesitant touch as if he could hardly believe that it was real.  The child could scarcely believe it either.  They had worn these collars all their lives and never, not even once, had he seen one damaged.

Encouraged by the progress, the older child set to work again.  He clawed at the band, working faster and harder even as its magic lashed out at him again, but for each tiny tear he made in its surface he also left long, jagged scratches in his own vertebrae.  The sound was terrible, a squealing scrape of bone on bone accompanied by the little pops and zaps of yellow magic and breathless, pained yelps that his sibling could not quite contain.  The child couldn’t take it any more.  He raced to the older boy and wedged himself between the creature and the wall.  As he reached out to touch his brother’s skull, yellow magic jumped into his fingers and raced along his arm.  He ignored the sharp sting.  It was nothing new to him.  

Forcing his twitching hands to obey despite the jolts of electric magic racing through him, he carefully lifted his brother’s skull into his lap and curled around him.  The older child whimpered, the sound just as pained as it was concerned, and he answered with a reassuring little trill.  It hurt, yes, but he would stay.  He would take as much of this pain away from his brother as he could.  

That terrible sound echoed off the walls again as the older child resumed his frantic clawing.  He was making progress, slowly rending the hateful collar apart, but each inch was bought with pain and dust.  Tears blurred the younger child’s vision and he was grateful for it.  Something warm dripped onto his legs, soaking through the thin material of his gown.  He shut his eye sockets tight, gritting his teeth and riding out the jolting shocks of yellow magic until, at last, they stopped.  His sibling went limp, clawed paws clattering to the floor.  The child slowly opened his eyes, dreading what he would see.  

Red.  A small pool of rich crimson stained the floor, too bright even in the shadows of their corner and smelling of the same sick sweetness he remembered in the needles.  It pooled around the shredded remains of a black collar, glimmers of magic fading on the destroyed band, and dripped from long, jagged cuts gouged into delicate bone.  His brother’s neck was a ruined mess.  Each vertebrae all the way down to his ribs was striped with lacerations, some skipping at odd angles thanks to the pulses of magic that had shocked his body and made his actions all the more frantic.  By far though, the worst were where the collar itself had been.  Pale blue magic glimmered in the deepest of the scratches, all but overshadowed by the bright, unnatural red.

The younger boy curled tighter around his sibling, stroking his skull and clutching him close.  Tears made bright with his own inherent magic rolled down his face and splashed onto his brother’s ravaged spine.  He whimpered and crooned soft sounds of love and comfort, offering all he had to give and knowing that it wasn’t enough.   The older boy tried to answer him, but his voice was just as broken as his body and all that came out was a faint, garbled hiss that not even he could understand.  The child rested his head against the sloping crest of his sibling’s skull, trembling fingers aching though he could not bring himself to let go.  His gentle chorus faltered as he choked on tears.

They stayed there frozen until strained panting quieted and tears ran dry.  A soft sound, more a rasp of air than a whine, drew the child’s attention.  His sibling stared up at  him, a single light glowing softly in dark eye sockets.  He gestured as best he could, pointing red stained claws towards the small bits of food that they had saved which were abandoned nearby.  Not wanting to release him just yet, the younger child stretched out a stiff, aching arm and leaned as far as he could until he managed to grasp his prize.  

Though they had each saved a portion of their rations, he gave most of what they had to his sibling.  The child had no wounds to heal, after all, and the very idea of eating at that moment made him feel ill.  He fed his brother one small piece at a time, letting the waxy substance dissolve in his mouth and provide much needed fuel for his weakened magic, yet even that seemed to cause the older child discomfort.  They carried on like that, through shudders and winces and quiet coos of comfort, until the older child clamped his jaws together and refused the last of their rations.  He made an insistent droning sound, grating and painful, which made them both wince for entirely different reasons and would not stop until the child agreed to eat the rest himself.  

Though the food helped to ease the soreness in his bones, the child’s soul still twinged with pain as he helped his sibling rise. The creature staggered, swaying and leaning heavily against him, a few stray drops of red springing fresh from his wounds.  He blinked and shook his head a few times until the absent light finally reappeared in his eyes, flickering dimly to life.  Once he was steady, or at least no longer likely to topple at the slightest push, he began to test his magic.  A glow kindled beneath his ribs, sparking faint and faded, and died out of its own accord.  He tried to whimper softly, earning only a faint gust of air for his efforts, and the child gently stroked his skull until he’d gathered enough energy to try again.  

The child watched over his brother as he worked, quickly losing track of time.  Not that time was easy to keep track of in the first place.  He had to count, even and steady, the way the tall man had taught them to to do in order to recognize the passing of minutes and hours as they blurred into empty, monotonous nights and long, dread filled days.  But tonight, the child didn’t have the focus or patience for such things.  He had only his own inherent sense of passing time to help him know how much longer they had left.  If they didn’t manage this before morning, they would never manage it at all.  

Those first weak flutters of magic grew steadily stronger the longer the creature had to recover.  Eventually, the child had to back away as his sibling built up the white hot flare of his power in his ribs.  The older boy let the magic fade once more, panting hard to draw in air and cool his soul, and gave him a meaningful look.  Even with his brother so completely robbed of his voice, the child understood him in all the ways that mattered most.  He carefully held the creature’s muzzle in his hands, nuzzling him gently the way his brother had always done for him when he was scared, and crooned soft reassurances.

“Ready?” the child whispered once his sibling had stilled.  Truth be told, he didn’t want to do this.  He hated to see his brother hurt and knew that, whatever waited for them beyond this room, it would be dangerous.  And yet, now that they had come this far there was no other choice.  When the tall man returned and saw the creature without his collar, he would be furious.  He would make sure this never happened again.  The child didn’t want his brother’s sacrifice to be in vain.  

The creature nodded into his hands.  He pressed the end of his muzzle to the child and nosed him back, guiding his younger sibling to stand behind him.  The child did so obediently.  He watched anxiously, hands clenched into trembling fists, as light and heat built up in his brother’s chest.  It illuminated their small room, casting long shadows onto smooth, metal walls.  Blue light blazed in his siblings eyes, burning with an intensity he’d never quite seen before.  Claws scraped against the stone floor, clinging desperately as his spine arched and the bones of his jaw creaked from the strain.  The deep scratches on his neck started oozing red once more, tiny drops sizzling and evaporating in the intense heat of his magic.  A familiar high pitched sound pierced the air and the last traces of familiar blue paled away from under his ribs as his magic built on itself, bright and burning.  

The child let out a distressed whine of his own and, like one of the tall man’s commands, it spurred his sibling into action.  The creature opened his mouth and flared his split jaw wide, firing all that pent up energy in one long, sustained blast of blinding power.  Raw magic struck its target, hitting not the door which the tall man used to access their room but the wall itself.  The brothers were smart, perhaps smarter than the tall man thought they were, and they knew the door would be protected in ways they could not plan for.  The wall, however, was not.  Metal warped under the force of the blast, burning and melting until a blackened hole just big enough for them to crawl through had formed in its previously pristine surface.  Only then did the creature stop his attack, letting the last of his power flare out with little sparks of light.  He staggered and might have fallen if the child hadn’t raced to his side and held him up.

'Are you alright?’ the child asked with a whimper.  He didn’t like the amount of smoke that was rising from his sibling, seeping out from his heaving ribs and open jaws, but his brother was already regaining his breath and gave him a quick, reassuring nudge.  He eased himself away from the offered support, shook himself briefly, and stood tall.  At least, as tall as he was capable of.

They could see the lab through the warped, charred hole in the wall.  It stretched out before them, empty and still.  The lights were dim, as they always were when the scientist was gone for the night, but still present enough to illuminate the familiar testing tools and clean, sterile surfaces.  This was their entire world, and they were going to leave it.  The child’s magic raced inside him, too warm and dizzying.  He wasn’t ready.

The strange, scratchy sound of his sibling trying and failing to bark snapped him back to reality.  Deep eyes sockets stared at him, the white lights shining from within them full of concern.  His brother tried to bark again, this time quieter yet no more successful, and the sound tapered off into something strained and small that almost sounded like 'are you okay’.  He reached up and ran a trembling hand along the creature’s spine, careful not to touch his wounded neck.  

“I’m okay.”  He wasn’t really.  He feared he might never be again.  But … had he ever really been okay?  Would he even be able to recognize it if he was?

Grasping for bravery he wasn’t even certain he possessed, the child carefully stepped through the misshapen hole and out into the lab.  Claws clicked along the floor as his sibling followed close behind him, and he was never more grateful for his brother’s constant, reassuring presence.  They crept to the door that the tall man always came from, testing the handle but finding it locked.  The child threw all his weight against door but it would not budge an inch.  He stepped back, more anxious than ever, and cast a nervous glance to his brother.

The creature didn’t even need words to know what he was meant to do.  He braced himself and concentrated, the natural patterns of his magic easily stirring into a bright hum.  He wouldn’t need much power this time, certainly not as much as what he’d needed to melt through the solid metal of the walls, and only built up a swirling blue glow before firing the blast at the door lock.  The weaker metal gave way easily, delicate internal components damaged beyond all hope of repair, and the door popped open.

Instantly a shrill sound reverberated in the air, announcing their escape.  The creature winced and shook his head, keen hearing tormented by the sound.  It pained the child too, though not quite as much, but he had bigger things clamoring for his attention.  He looked around in a wild panic, half expecting to see the tall man appear from nowhere.  The sound was so loud and terrible, someone would hear it for sure.  Someone must already have heard it!  They’d be caught for certain now!  The man would see what they’d done, what they had tried to do, and he’d hurt them for it.  

The child clutched at his skull and shook, his bones clattering together in a way that was almost painful.  He didn’t notice his sibling change, taking on his other form, until thin arms wrapped around him and held him tight.  He looked up as his brother tried and failed to make some sound of comfort that might help break through his hysteria.  The older boy cast a nervous glance towards the door and the dark hallway that lay beyond it.  He was eager to move, to run before things slipped entirely out of their control, but unwilling to force his sibling into something he was so clearly not able to cope with.  He turned them both away from the sight.  Gentle hands and a warm embrace soothed the younger boy just as they always did, even if his sibling could no longer trill and croon to him.  The child clutched him tightly, clinging to his one and only lifeline for seconds that seemed to stretch on into eternity, and forced himself to let go.  He wasn’t doing this just for himself, he had to remember that.  Together, they could be strong enough.  

'Let’s go,’ he said with a short, shrill howl.  “Have to hurry.”

That was all the assurance his sibling needed.  The older boy changed with ease, trusting four legs to run faster than two, and they set off sprinting down the cold, echoing hall.  The child ran for all he was worth, but this form wasn’t built for the kinds of speeds he needed to keep up.  He faltered and fell, barely able to catch himself as he slammed into the unforgiving stone floor.  Claws scraped and skidded as his brother turned quickly, bounding back towards him.  Sharp teeth snatched with surprising care at the thin material of his gown, grasping it securely and helping to pull him back up.  Though the child staggered to his feet, he didn’t break into yet another sprint.  This wasn’t going to work, and they both knew it.

He tried to change, reaching for the mental image of his other self, but the magic of his own collar was just as strong as ever.  A blue light that was not his own flared in his vision and it felt as if a band was being tightened around his chest.  He couldn’t do this.  He had to stop!  Even if he worked through the pain like his sibling had learned to do, it would take much too long for him to finish the change.  Someone would come.  Someone would see.  

His brother tried to bark again and lashed his long, whip-like tail at the ground to get his attention.  He knelt, lowering his body to the ground, and made a strangled, high pitched sound.  The child understood instantly and ran over, pulling himself onto his sibling’s back.  His brother shouldn’t have been able to carry him, not with still fresh wounds and having already used too much of his magic that night, but something spurred him onward and gave him the strength to get up.  

The creature broke into a loping run, slow at first with the unfamiliar weight of a passenger but faster and faster as they carried on.  He turned sharply at a corner, skidding so hard that the child’s leg hit a wall with a painful smack, and kicked off the ground to propel them forward once more.  A door blocked their path, but he did not stop.  Heat built up in his chest, a fraction of the power he possessed yet still hot enough to make the child’s hands hurt where he clutched at his sibling’s bones.  He spat a short blast of magic at the door’s handle before plowing right through the obstacle like a living battering ram.  Stairs loomed ahead of them and he slowed just enough to manage them without accidentally throwing his rider.  Up and up they climbed until the blaring noise from the lab faded away only to be replaced with a matching siren roaring from up above them.  

Another door, another handle, another short burst of blue magic, and they found themselves in a place full of light and sound and chaos.  The creature took off like a shot, barreling down unfamiliar passageways, searching for a way out.  Few monsters roamed the halls that night, but still some saw them.  There were voices the child had heard, faces they had seen, and each one sent a stab of fear right through his soul.  He did his best to block it out.  Panicking again would do no good now.  He had to be strong and act like the keen hunter he’d been created to be.  He held tight to the creature’s shoulder blades as they moved, bending low and leaning into the turns, and scanned each new area for some sort of weakness.    

They hit a dead end, sliding to a halt so quickly that the older child’s claws left long scratches in the floor, and tried to turn back only to find their way blocked by the towering form of a monster in a white coat.  Unfamiliar eyes locked onto him, and for a moment the younger boy thought he could see shock in them.  Or was it fear?  The child whimpered at the sight, but his soft cries seemed to give his brother strength.  The creature growled low in his throat, the sound rough and broken, and charged.  The monster let out a terrified sound of their own and tried to back away, but they couldn’t move as quickly as the creature could.  They plowed into the monster’s legs, toppling them easily, and leapt over their sprawled form.  

The child spotted another flight of stairs and easily steered his sibling towards it.  They climbed quickly, blocking out the sounds of frightened shouting from below, and found themselves in a large room very similar yet so different from the lab they’d known.  Once more they searched for some way out, something that might hint at freedom, but found nothing.  The creature huffed, breathy pants shaking the child riding on his back, and paced anxiously from one side of the room to the other in his fruitless search.  There was no exit, at least not one they could recognize, but the child wasn’t ready to give up after all they’d been through.  If they could not find a way out, then perhaps they could make one.  

The child hopped off of the creature’s back, whistling sharply and leading him towards one of the far walls.  Some places in the large room trapping them were covered by massive pieces of metal or blocked by strange machines that he could not even assume the use of, but not this wall.  He pointed, and the creature nodded in understanding.  The sharp hum of power built up in the air and the child turned away, shielding his eyes.  He listened as his sibling unleashed a powerful bolt of pure magical energy at the wall, breaking through thick stone, and when he looked back his eye sockets went wide at the sight.  There was no other room waiting beyond the wall, no stairs or darkened hallways or brightly lit spaces with shining metal tables.  What greeted the child and his sibling as they stepped out through the jagged, crumbling hole the older boy had made was the roughly hewn stone of a cavern so vast that it looked like it might just go on forever.  

The world was nothing like what the child had envisioned.  The very air was hot, baking his bones and shimmering with radiant heat like a living thing.  Long walkways of rusty colored rock suspended them over tall spikes of stone and pools of something that looked like glowing red water.  It was frightening, but the idea of returning to the lab now scared him even more.  They crept along, hugging close to the smooth walls of the building they had tried so hard to escape, as they made their way around searching for more substantial, solid ground.  

At last the rough, red rock opened up into a larger platform and the creature knelt again, pawing at the ground to call to his sibling.  The child hopped onto his back again and they took off, slower than before but still running at a decent pace.  He felt his brother shaking beneath him and heard him breathing in clipped, ragged pants.  His magic was flickering, his strength flagging, and the desperation that had driven him so far had begun to peter out in the face of victory.  Yet he kept running.  They weren’t safe yet, they both knew that.  They wouldn’t be safe until the building looming behind them was nothing but a distant memory.

His brother slowed when they approached what looked like a long, wooden bridge.  He approached it carefully, sniffing at it and hesitantly testing its ability to hold their weight.  When he stepped out onto it, the wood creaked ominously but still held firm.  The sight from atop it was dizzying, even more so than from the edge they’d first stepped out onto.  The child held on a little tighter.  

They were halfway across when a voice made them both freeze.  “1-S, halt!”  

The older creature stopped, one paw frozen in the air mid-step, and twitched.  He didn’t want to stay, he wanted to run!  They needed to go, to fly so far and so fast that not even those awful words could catch them.  Instead, they turned slowly in place on the narrow bridge to face the man who’d made them.  

“How did you even … ” the tall man muttered as he approached.  He looked oddly disheveled, not at all the put together picture of calm control that the children were used to.  Annoyance drew his mouth into a tight frown.  “Heel.”

The creature shook.  He inched backwards, trembling and rattling until the child had to struggle to hold on.  He didn’t want to do this!  They had come so far, given too much, for it all to be taken away now.  And yet, even without being given the commands himself, some part of the child wanted to obey.

Though his expression didn’t really change, the tall man’s dark eyes burned with anger.  He took a slow, measured step forward.  “001 – S.  Heel.”

Bit by bit, they inched forward.  Shaking paws carried them towards the tall man with an almost aching slowness as the creature tried desperately to fight against something so much stronger than himself.  A breathy growl tried to build up in his ravaged throat.  The child whispered to his brother in the language without words, trying to call some absent part of him back.  He didn’t know why he was even trying, fighting the tall man was pointless.  Perhaps it was the look in his sibling’s eyes, so frightened and hopeless in the face of his master, that made him willing to do anything to keep them free if only for a moment longer.  He ran a hand along his brother’s rattling spine, ignoring his own fearful trembling, and begged him to stay.  Limbs slowly stilled.  Bony paws touched the ground and stayed there.  The creature let out a pained, clicking sort of sound, shaking his skull, and stood there like a shuddering statue.

The tall man approached them slowly.  He had that look, that terrible curious look that the child remembered.  Only, it wasn’t quite the same.  The closer he got, the more the child could see the seething anger in his eyes.  “I trained you two better than this.”  

The tall man stepped forward onto the bridge.  The creature inched away.  One of his hind paws slipped on the edge, momentarily pitching them to the side, and he hopped back to steady himself.  The child struggled to maintain his grip, magic racing and breath coming all too quick.  The man frowned at their antics.  He had tired of this little game.  He thrust a hand forward, a blue glow shining in the air, and the child felt the force of the man’s magic grasp him.  It leaked into his soul, making him feel heavy and slow, and pulled with overwhelming force.  

The child tried to hold on as his body was yanked roughly upwards.  He clung so hard that the older child was nearly pulled up with him, fingers grating against his sibling’s bones, and screamed despite himself.  A brighter light cut through his panic, drawing him to look into glowing eyes he knew so well.  No, not just glowing, blazing.  The dregs of his sibling’s magic were churning in him, worked into a frenzy.  Tears pricked at the child’s eyes.  He couldn’t fight the tall man and win, but maybe … maybe he could at least do this.  He whined a simple message that the man would never hear nor understand, words meant only for his devoted sibling.  'Love you brother.  Please … run.’

The child let go.  Though it was the hardest thing he’d ever done in his short life, he released his grip and watched as the older child clattered into a heap on the bridge.  The creature picked himself up quickly, and the child hoped that he would use what strength he still possessed to turn and run, disappearing into the far away darkness where the man could never touch him again.  He didn’t.  

Instead, white light flared up bright and fast within him.  He stood his ground, burning from the inside, and fired a blast of power directly at the tall man.  It was nothing compared to his normal strength, but the fury stirring in his soul gave him just enough to strike the man, making him fall back against rough, red stone.  The blue aura surrounding the child shattered and he fell, striking the bridge near is edge, but he hardly had time for the impact to register before the creature was there.  Insistent teeth snatched at his clothing, dragging him over the edge and onto a platform of stone that felt warm under his hands.  That familiar hum sang through the air and he looked up in time to see the tall man’s eyes go wide in shock.  A second blast of magic, more powerful than the first, struck the edge of the bridge right in front of him.  Wood and stone exploded out in a rain of destruction that should have been more satisfying to the child than it actually was.  A bony muzzle, still too hot and smoking faintly, nudged him and the child hopped onto the creature’s back once more.  He held on tight as they sprinted off and tried not to look back.  

They were running so fast it felt like flying, shapes and colors blurring around them, and everything was bright and terrible.  He clung to his brother with every scrap of strength he possessed, arms wrapping around the crudely carved bones of the creature’s neck, and shut his eye sockets tight.  When the radiant light of the glowing water was blocked at last, he dared to look at where they were going.  Dark rock rose ominously ahead of them.  He didn’t like the looks of this, but there was no other place for them to go.    

They plunged heedless into the darkness.  The child heard a faint hum and a moment later the soft blue light of his brother’s magic poured from the older boy’s eye and lit the cave.  They didn’t stop, didn’t dare.  The sounds of bony paws striking the ground echoed off the cavern walls until they reached the end and burst out into the dim light of the underground once more.  

Small golden specks of light drifted through the air, resting momentarily on tall, blue flowers.  It was strangely beautiful, so very unlike anything they had ever seen before, but the child was too afraid to enjoy it.  His sibling slowed, stopping for a moment, and he winced at the sound of the creature’s ragged panting.  The child stroked his skull gently.  He was going to croon something sweet and soft, a reassurance that they were together and alive and finally free, but an unknown noise made him pause.  He still heard his brother’s panting, that was true, but there was something else.  The sound itself seemed to come back again.  It came from all around them, echoing again and again in a loop that distorted itself into something almost nightmarish yet would never end.  Both children trembled, looking for anything that might cause such a thing, but nothing in the dimly lit cavern was familiar to them.  They fled the warm glow of the drifting lights and the strange, distorted echoes, ducking under a small rocky overpass only to step into a darkness so complete that even the glow from the creature’s eye was swallowed up by it.  

The child held tighter to his sibling, wrapping shaking arms around his neck once more, for fear that they might take a step and fall into that endless dark.  They stumbled on, striking hidden walls and unseen obstacles, until at last the light returned.  This place was different from what they’d seen before.  There was no punishing heat and ominous, glowing water, no echoing caverns or all encompassing darkness, only soft light, cool air, and the soothing sound of falling water.  It was strange yet peaceful, inviting yet alien, and oddly beautiful.  

His brother staggered forward, splashing into the cool water.  His legs were shaking.  His whole body was shaking.  The child trilled to him, offering to get off and run under his own power, but he shook his head even as he struggled to put one paw in front of the other.  He lurched onward until at last the older boy’s legs gave out and they fell into the water with a soft splash.  The child got up, trying to drag his exhausted sibling forward.  They weren’t safe yet.  Not yet!  The man could still find them!  

Try as he might, the child couldn’t manage to lift his sibling’s limp body.  Their creature selves were larger than their other forms, having been designed as sturdy, powerful weapons.  Truth be told, his brother wasn’t all that much bigger than him even like this, but the water was doing him no favors.  He struggled even to stand in it, let alone wade his way through.  The current tugged at the creature’s body, threatening to drag him away.  The child held on as tight as he could, but he didn’t have the strength to fight the water’s pull as well.  If he released the other boy, let him fall on his own, then maybe …

The child held on for all he was worth.  Rushing torrents of water snatched them both away and they were dragged over the edge, tumbling and spiraling into darkness.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So, if anyone's interested ... I did draw a few things from this chapter. I'm not saying it's good art, but it's there if you're interested. So you can check that out over [here](http://ashadowcalledkei.tumblr.com/post/138552528116/skellie-art-spam-time-i-love-drawing-blaster).


	3. Chapter 3

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Wow you guys, the response to this fic has just been incredible! I'm so touched~. Especially since it's such a dark fic (eep). Personally I think this chapter is where things start to get a bit better for the pups ... but other people have disagreed with me on that so, umm, ya ... 
> 
> But, the next part is where it starts to get into some of the more traditional themes that make Keetah/Spacegate's babyblaster AU so wonderful, so I bet you can guess who's gonna show up then~.
> 
> And if you've still not read [Trust](http://archiveofourown.org/works/5378657/chapters/12423164), go do it!

In the shadowy cave beneath the waterfalls, far away from prying eyes, the creature called 1-S stalked through the darkness.  He padded through deep puddles, the cuffs of the oversized clothing draped across his bones rolled up high to avoid the ever present water.  Careful paws barely made a sound and left nothing but faint ripples behind to mark his presence.  Each time he came across one of the many mounds of piled up refuse that littered the caverns, he would pause to inspect its contents.  If anything caught his interest he would stop and dig through the mound, sharp claws picking delicately through the clutter, but more often than not his search yielded nothing and he carried on.

As he came to one of the taller piles, this one many times his own height, the creature stopped again.  He sat there considering it a moment, circled the pile once, and finally decided that it would probably be worth the effort.  He tensed like a coiled spring, shoulders hunched up, wiggling slightly in anticipation until finally he pushed off with powerful back legs and leapt high into the air.  Landing on a carefully chosen hunk of half rusted metal just sturdy enough to support his weight, the creature began to climb.  Not so long ago, thought it felt like a lifetime, he would have been able to scale the obstacle in a few quick jumps and would still be full of energy, ready and willing to take on any challenge he might find at the top of this miniature mountain.  Now, he dragged himself upwards, claws hooked into the haphazardly strewn pile, occasionally slipping as something that looked like it should have been a proper anchor failed to live up to his expectations.  He was panting when he reached the top and had to stop there, ragged gasps dragging in cool, damp air to quench the heat in him that built up all too easily.

Once he felt a bit more rested, he started to dig.  Items were dragged up from the pile, inspected, and discarded down the side of the mound where they would tumble to the cavern floor.  At one point he unearthed a large piece of fabric.  It was ripped at the ends and had a sizable hole in it, but it felt soft and was a rather pleasing color.  That discovery he dropped in a different place, watching carefully as it fluttered to the ground.  He would retrieve it later, once his task was finished.  He was on a mission, and 1-S would not allow himself to stop until it was completed.  

Returning to the pile, the creature searched until he had carved out a deep hole in the mound.  Time and time again he would dig something promising out of the clutter only to cast it aside.  He was beginning to think that this entire trip might be a waste when he unearthed a simple container made of thick, white plastic and secured with a red lid.  He’d seen objects like this before.  

A sharp whistle echoed in the cavern, distinctive and shrill.  The creature grabbed his prize with his teeth and clawed his way out of the hole he’d made, balancing precariously on the top of the now weakened structure.  He started to whistle back, the behavior having long since been ingrained into his mind, but all that came out of him was a harsh rasp of air.  He mentally chided himself for not having learned his lesson by now.  Instead, he carefully maneuvered over to the closest metal object and tapped his slender, bony tail against it, rattling out a series of long and short pings of tinny sound.  

A shape approached from the dark, maneuvering through the maze of puddles and trash, following his call.  His sibling caught sight of him and picked up speed, barely managing to restrain himself from trying to jog over.  He limped slightly, his leg and hip still hurting from their fall into this watery cavern.  1-S tried to not let it show, but it bothered him.  He should have been stronger, should have held out longer, should have truly gotten them to safety.  But he hadn’t.  He’d failed, fallen, and only his brother’s quick thinking had saved him.

It was 2-P that had shielded him as they fell, taking the worst of the impact because the child knew he could not, and hauled them both out of the unforgiving water.  The younger boy had found the little cavern hidden behind the waterfall that was their sanctuary.  He’d all but dragged them both there when the older child had been too weary to do more than stagger and had held him tight to keep him warm through the achingly long day and night that followed.  His memories were hazy, clouded by pain and exhaustion, but he did remember the child’s tears as his brother whispered to him in every language they knew.  'Stay with me.  We’ve come so far.  You can’t give up now.  Wake up.  Please, wake up.’

The creature tapped out another quick message with his tail and threw his head back in a silent howl.  It wasn’t much of a greeting, but his sibling didn’t seem to mind.  

‘Did you find anything?’ the child asked with a curious trill, gazing up at him with a gentle smile that never failed to raise his spirits.  

The creature leapt down from atop the pile, landing awkwardly and stumbling for a moment as his own injuries protested the sudden jolt.  His sibling was there in an instant, reaching out to steady him.  He changed easily, taking on a smaller, weaker form that matched his brother, and dropped the pilfered item into his hands.  

'What is it?’ the younger skeleton chirped curiously as he turned the container over, inspecting it closely.  “Food?”

1-S shrugged, synching the drawstring of his baggy, salvaged pants a bit tighter when they threatened to fall off of his hips.  He thought the thing he’d found would be edible, at least the container was very similar to something they’d found food in before.  The two of them were still guessing about most of this, having never eaten anything but their rations before the frenzied escape that had led them to this place.  The white, waxy substance had kept them going and nothing more, that’s all he’d ever expected food to do, but when they began digging through the washed up piles of refuse to survive they’d had to adapt in a very big way.  Monster food could not only sustain them, it could also taste good.  Or, in some cases, very bad.  He ate the bad tasting stuff anyway, trying to make sure that his younger brother got more of the good than he did, because he knew they couldn’t afford to waste a single scrap.  In some ways, even food that made him wince at the taste was better than the bland, blank nothingness of their rations.

'Look what I found,’ his sibling said with a squeaky sort of bark, happily retrieving something from the large pockets of his shirt.  In his hands he held a long strip of relatively clean white fabric.  It had one noticeable stain and was still a bit damp, but it was much better than the sorts of things they normally dug up.  He frowned down at it, knowing exactly what his brother was implying but unable to refuse the offer for so many different reasons.  The younger boy snickered at him and gave him a playful nudge.  'Don’t be like that.’

He crossed his arms stubbornly and let out an empty huff of air.  It was just about the loudest coherent sound he could make now.  It didn’t bother the younger child in the slightest, he knew the act was all for show anyway.  They retrieved their other finds or the day, which consisted of the soft blanket 1-S had found and a warm, thick shirt that his younger brother insisted he take.  It replaced the previous garment he’d found, which had been full of holes and so large that it constantly slid off of his shoulders.  Not wanting to waste anything, the brothers retreated to their hidden cavern behind the waterfall and deposited the old shirt and the blanket in the pile of collected fabric that was their nest.  Real clothing, like what monsters wore, was a luxury to them, but the nest was even better.  Sleeping on a padded surface like that, able to bury themselves in warm softness and just rest without fear of being woken by shrill beeping and the promise of tests, it was heaven.  

Though the boy had been eager to open his prize and discover what was hidden inside it, the younger child insisted on tending to his wounds first.  There was no getting out of it, so he stopped fussing and sat still, allowing his sibling to untie the strip of dark, tattered material already wrapped around his neck.  It had struck him as wrong somehow when he’d woken to find the younger child binding his scratches that first time.  It felt like he was just swapping one collar for another, but then the other boy had trilled to him, soft and sad, and he hadn’t been able to refuse.  He had learned exactly why it had been so important to his brother later, when he saw the new stains on the material.  Even its dark color couldn’t hide the scattered spots of deep red and faded, pale blue from where his own magic and something … else … had leaked from the worst of his wounds.

His brother’s hands were pleasantly warm even in the cool, damp air of the cavern.  Careful fingers skimmed over the side of his neck, living bone scraping gently along his vertebrae as the boy traced the lightest of the scratches that marked him.  1-S hadn’t wanted to do it.  The feeling of his own claws in his throat, scratching and gouging and strangely slick, haunted his dreams, but there had been no other way.  Their freedom, his little brother’s safety, was worth more than his own well being.  It was easily worth more than his life.  

The younger boy inspected the damage, searching for any signs of the thick, red substance that had leaked out from his marrow and thankfully finding none.  Still, the child’s dark eyes were troubled as he carefully started to wrap the new bandage around his neck.  1-S knew why.  His wounds weren’t healing like they should.  Or rather, to be honest, they were hardly healing at all.  The younger child hadn’t told him so, nor had he found a way to ask, but he knew.  He’d felt the deep marks pull and twist as he moved, examined them gingerly when the other boy was sleeping, and even seen his reflection in the mirrored pools of water scattered about their new home.  More than any of that though, he’d felt the pain that flared in his throat each time he tried to speak.  He talked through his magic, like his brother and real skeleton monsters did, but his whole body was nothing but a construct of that magic and he’d cut so deep that he’d struck something which he had no word for in any language.  Something which hummed when he called on his magic, burned and ached in the wake of the devastating power he could wield, and could resonate through his whole being.  He had torn into some secret, vital part of himself … and he didn’t know how to fix it.

2-P finished tying the bandage, giving it an experimental tug to make sure it wasn’t too tight or too loose, and sat back with a satisfied smile that didn’t quite touch his eyes.  The older child’s soul ached at the sadness that still lingered in his sibling, but he didn’t know how to fix that either.  He touched the other child’s shoulder, warm and reassuring, and used his hands to make a simple gesture.  'Thank you.’  He wasn’t supposed to know what the motion meant, neither of them were, but the children were nothing if not observant.  Doctor used motions like that one to talk to other monsters who couldn’t understand his words as easily as 1-S and 2-P did.  Neither of them knew all that much of the odd sound-less way of speaking, but they knew enough.  

With his task finished, the younger child retrieved the mysterious container and set it between them, just as eager as his brother was to discover what was inside.  Prying open the lid, they found a familiar sight; part of a pale, soft square filled with something gooey and sweet smelling.  Food!  They’d found things like this before and at first both children were excited by the discovery, but they quickly figured out that something was amiss.  It looked like proper monster food, but beneath the sweetness it had a strange smell to it that neither boy could quite place.  They split the contents of the box, grimacing faintly at the mushy feel and scent of it, and ate what they could.  Almost instantly, the boy knew that this had been a mistake.  The thing didn’t dissolve away into the warm feeling of magic like monster food did.  He spat out what he could, seeing his sibling do the same, and shuddered in revulsion at the sick, slimy feeling it left behind.  

“Don’t like that,” his brother complained, punctuating the statement with a soft gagging sound.  'Gross.’

He tapped on the younger boy’s arm to get his attention and used his hands to speak where his voice could not.  'Sorry.  Bad.’

The child grasped his wrists, stilling his hands before could go on, and whined a simple 'no’.  “Not your fault.  Thought it was food too.”

The boy sighed heavily.  It had been such a long day of searching, and for what?  He could go back out, keep digging through the scattered piles of abandoned garbage, maybe have some better luck.  He’d have to, if they wanted to eat at all for the day.  But as he was about to rise, his sibling grasped his wrist once more and pulled him back down.  

“I’m tired,” the child said softly, his voice all but drowned out by the nearby rush of falling water.  “You’re tired too.”

He wished he could speak, could tell his brother how he was so clever that there was no use trying to hide anything from him, but all he could offer was a little shrug and a nod.  He was more exhausted than hungry, and whatever had been in that box had made him wary of trying their luck again so soon.  He let his sibling lead him to the back of the cavern where their little nest of scavenged blankets and clothing waited for them.  They curled up together, nestled close for comfort and warmth, and the boy let sleep take him.

—-

1-S woke too quickly, feeling just as tired as he had when he went to sleep.  He was used to that, the bad dreams woke him often, but the thing that had roused him this time was no bad dream.  He felt sick, as if his bones had been slicked from the inside with something foreign and strange.  It wasn’t entirely unfamiliar.  

He soon found, to his dismay, that he wasn’t the only one out of sorts.  The brothers took what remained of the not-food, box and all, and threw it as far away from their little cavern as they could.  Then they retreated to their nest and stayed there, ill and aching, as night slipped into morning and time lost all meaning.  Eventually they felt well enough to return to their daily routine, but their luck had not improved with time.  What few useful items had been in the piles had been mined dry by their relentless scavenging, and each new day brought only more of the same junk that already littered the cavern.  The younger child tried to stay positive, after all it had to be better than the labs, and 1-S went along with him if only to make him happy.  They just had to wait until the next time someone dropped real food down into the piles.  Everything would be alright then.

But the food never came.  Each day they would prowl the caverns, digging through mounds of rotting refuse, hoping to find something they could eat.  They would listen keenly for the sound of something heavy falling into the water and race to meet it each time, filled anew with the desperate hope that this time they would get lucky.  And yet, at the end of each day, they curled around one another in their little cavern with nothing to show for their efforts except a growing, aching emptiness inside them.  1-S knew the truth, though he didn’t want to admit it.  They couldn’t stay.  

It was their second not-food experience that really did it.  They had learned to avoid anything that had that awful smell, but there didn’t seem to be any other options.  Each day the brothers felt a bit weaker and stumbled a bit more.  Their magic was failing them.  So when the younger child discovered something that looked like the fruit they had seen monsters eat in the labs, they had been all too eager to try it.  They’d willfully ignored the strange softness of it, the faint scent of something not right, even the dull, dirty color that lurked inside it.  It had been a mistake.  

A day or so later, still feeling ill and so very, very wrong, the children finally gave in and left the secret safety of their watery cave.  They bundled up their nest as best they could, layering warm clothing over their shaking bones, and set out into the darkness.  1-S led the way, calling on the light of his power to shine its soft, blue glow on the dark stone surrounding them, but his magic would flicker and fade without warning.  His eye would dim despite his best efforts, even the normal white lights that came so naturally to him guttering out into emptiness, and they would huddle together in the dark until he’d rested enough to call forth his magic and illuminate the caves once more.

They stuck to the river, wading through the gentler currents and keeping close to the cavern wall for fear of being swept away.  It seemed to go on forever, an endless, echoing tunnel that they would never find their way out of, but they kept moving forward.  What other choice did they have?  The cave walls turned and twisted, arcing in long, smooth bends, and eventually widened, opening up into something new.  Long wooden beams thrust up from the water’s surface, reaching towards the cavern’s ceiling.  What looked like a pattern of wooden platforms oddly similar to the bridge they’d crossed in their escape rested atop them.  They could keep going forward, wading slowly through the water which seemed to only get colder and deeper as they went along, or they could go up.  As far as the boy was concerned, their choice was clear.

He tied the small bundle of blankets to himself and helped his little brother up, boosting the child up out of the water.  2-P clung to the wood, shaking from uncertainty as much as from the subtle yet unfamiliar chill in the air.  He tried to croon gentle reassurance to the child, but the harsh, scratchy sound that came from him did nothing to make either of them feel any better.  So instead, he just boosted his younger brother a bit higher.  He watched anxiously as the other boy scrambled up the wooden post, reaching out each time he slipped or slid even the slightest inch though he was much too far away to be of any actual help, until at last the boy hauled himself up onto the wooden platforms.  His brother leaned over the edge, worn out but still grinning.  

“You now,” the child called down to him.

He tried to pull himself up, but the water slicked wood provided little in the way of grip and he slid back down with a soft splash.  Biting back a soundless growl of frustration, he tried again with much the same result.  This was getting him nowhere.  If the game can’t be won, he told himself firmly, change the rules.  The boy shifted, hands changing to paws, and reared up on his hind legs.  Sharpened claws sank easily into wood, providing the hold he needed to haul himself up.  It was awkward and slow, but he managed to scale the structure just the same.  Small hands reached over the edge to help pull him up and in no time he was with his brother once more.  He shook the water off of himself, at least as much as possible, and shifted again, shrinking back down to sit next to his sibling and catch his breath.    

The bridges proved easy to navigate once they had both recovered from the climb, and the brothers quickly found themselves on a wide and well worn path.  They were instantly anxious.  It didn’t seem safe to be in a place that was clearly used so often.  What if someone came?  What if they were spotted?  Training and instincts driving them, and perhaps a bit of paranoia as well, they used what little energy they still had to dart through the caverns.  There was light in the distance.  Perhaps it was not wise for weapons designed to hunt best in darkness, but they headed for it all the same.  Cascades of water fell from overhead, soaking them and their stolen treasures yet again, but they didn’t stop to shake themselves dry.  There was no time.  They had to get out of the cramped, dark caverns, away from the paths the monsters frequented, and into some decent cover.  

A gauzy haze filled the air and something cold crunched beneath their bare feet.  The children shivered, quickly becoming aware of just how much the temperature had dropped around them.  The boy felt his younger brother reach out and take his hand, and he held on tightly in return.  They staggered through the icy fog, wandering blind, until a soft glow from up ahead lit the way and rows of cozy looking wooden buildings came into view.

Through the pale haze, they could see movement in the town nearby.  Monsters shuffled down the streets wrapped up warm in oversized jackets, casually going about their business and returning to their homes as the last traces of day light left the sky.  The children backed away in fear.  There weren’t many people down there, at least that they could see, but it was still more activity than they were used to.  They couldn’t be so close, they would be spotted for sure and taken back to the lab!  Searching for something to hide them, they found a scattering of tall, green shapes dusted with white.  Trees, the boy remembered from their lessons in maneuvering through different terrains, they were trees.  And where there were a few, there would likely be more.  He led his brother to them, trudging along until they found themselves surrounded by a peaceful, quiet forest.  

The brothers were shaking from the cold, their bones rattling noisily in the otherwise silent space, but they didn’t dare return to the watery caverns they had come from.  There were monsters living here, and where there were homes there was food.  After a quick search of the area just to make sure there were no tracks or other signs of nearby monsters, the boys decided to make the forest their new home.  They searched until they stumbled across a large, sturdy tree with a gaping hole in its side, just barely big enough for them to curl up in.  The two children dug into the frigid whiteness around it, shaking fingers scraping it away in heaps until the found dark earth beneath the layers of cold.  It wasn’t much different, but at least it was something.  They piled their damp collection of fabric into the hole and dragged a few fallen branches over, leaning them against the tree to block some of what fell from the sky.  It was a pathetic excuse for a shelter, but at least it would hide them should anyone or anything come looking.

They crawled beneath the cover of branches, curling up on their new nest to recover from the tiring trip.  It took far longer than it should have for the boy to even feel up to moving again, and still his energy was faint and faded.  He leaned against his sibling and felt the younger child do the same, resting his head against his shoulder.

“Do you think we’ll find food here?” the child asked, sounding more asleep than awake.

Even the mere mention of the word made the boy ache with hunger, stabs of deep, formless pain piercing him from the inside out.  He nodded, firm resolve setting his features into something stern.  They had to find food soon, or else …

The boy eased his sibling away from himself, guiding the child to lay on the soft nest they had made in the shelter of the tree.  He crawled out from under the makeshift canopy, smoothing changing form as he did.  There was no 'or else’ because he wasn’t going to let things get that bad.  

'You’re going?’ the child asked with a faint whimper.  'Where?  Why?’

He looked to the distant glow of lights, the place where the monsters were, and clicked his jaws.  If there was any hope of finding food, it would be there.  To be honest, the thought of it terrified him.  The danger of being spotted, even in the sheltering darkness of night, was a very real and ever present threat.  He was willing to risk it though, if it meant he could bring his sibling something to eat after failing to provide for him for so long.  

“I’ll go too.”  The boy began to crawl out of their shelter, but 1-S blocked his way.  He let out a rasping ghost of a sound and shook his head, planting his feet in a show of stubborn resolve.  They both knew that their four legged forms were faster and stronger, able to run away from most dangers and fight back against those they could not avoid, and it was also abundantly clear that the younger child was in no shape to fight his collar’s restraining magic.  He would go alone, and that was that.  

Thin hands reached up, resting against either side of his muzzle.  They should have been steady, but they weren’t.  The touch should have been warm, but it wasn’t.  The creature whined his distress, though there wasn’t even enough sound behind it for his sibling to hear.  He had to do this, there was no other way, and perhaps his brother understood that.  The child pulled him closer and rested his skull against the creature’s own for a moment or two, trilling to him.  'Be careful.’  

The creature nudged his sibling, nuzzling the younger boy fondly, and waited until he retreated back into the safety of their new nest.  He started trotting his way through the thick layer of whiteness, trying to pick up speed only to find that the sleeves of his clothing kept getting caught under his paws.  That wouldn’t do.  He shook himself free of the cumbersome garments, snatching them up in his teeth and dragging them back to where his sibling waited.  With a quick flick, he added them to their nest.  He shivered without the extra layers of protection, the chill in the air biting into his bones, but it was worth it to be able to run freely.  Besides, his pale form would blend in with all the white surrounding them this way.  The boy knew he would need every advantage he could get on this mission.  

He made his way back through the forest, weaving between the trees at a fairly fast clip, until the lights of the town came into view once more.  The child sat there, alone in the cold, watching the monsters from afar for quite some time.  It wasn’t as if he was afraid of the monsters themselves, he told himself as he waited anxiously, only of being discovered and returned to the tall man.  A shudder that had nothing to do with the cold passed through him.  

The boy crept closer, sprinting from tree to tree until the forest thinned into nothing and he had to find something else to hide behind.  He held his breath, magic racing through his soul, and darted behind the wall of a small building.  Part of him was so sure that he had just doomed himself, that the monsters would somehow just know he was here and find him easily, but no one came.  Once he’d finally managed to calm himself, he dared to venture further and dash to the next bit of cover.  He was very close now, close enough to see and hear them clearly, but still his presence remained undiscovered.

A tall monster with large ears and a short tail exited a house across the street from the creature’s hiding place.  They waved to another, smaller monster, this one with a pair of short horns, who called to them from the building’s doorway.  “Hey, be careful out there.  Snow’s coming down pretty hard tonight.”

Snow?  Was that the cold whiteness that fell down around him?  He’d heard the word in passing once or twice, caught from snippets of partly understood conversation when the people in the long white coats didn’t think he was listening, but he’d never known what it could mean until now.  The creature shifted his weight a bit, feeling the soft, fluffy layers crunch down under his paws.  Snow.  It was nice to have a word for it now.  He wished he could tell his sibling, the younger child always liked learning new words.  

1-S waited until the door was closed and no trace of either monster remained before he continued on his way.  He hadn’t traveled far before a subtle scent caught his attention.  It was very much like what the salvaged food they’d found in the caverns had smelled like, but this was warm and heavy and so much better.  He had to stop for a moment or two as the aroma made that awful emptiness in him cramp up with agony, but as soon as he could coax his legs to support him once more he was off and following the scent.  It led him to a large building surrounded by tracks from more than a dozen different types of monsters.  He slunk around behind the building, not wanting to be seen should any of those tracks belong to someone who was still lurking about.  There were sounds from inside the sturdy, wooden walls, faint but very much present, and suddenly the boy didn’t feel safe hiding there any longer.  The edge of the forest was in sight, so he quickly retreated to the trees.  This place was where the wonderful scents came from, he was absolutely sure of that, but how was he supposed to get to them?  Perhaps if he waited a while, the monsters would leave and he could break in.  It wasn’t much of a plan, but it was all he had, so the boy decided to wait.  He sat in the cold, in the snow, he reminded himself, and waited.

Time slipped slowly away from him, the combination of cold, hunger, and fatigue lulling him into a sort of drowsy trance.  Perhaps he could just sleep here.  It wouldn’t be so bad, would it?  He’d nearly given in to the tempting thought when the back door of the building opened and he snapped to attention.  Something was there.  There was fire!  No … it was a monster.  A monster made of fire?  The boy hadn’t even known that was possible.  He inched away, staring intently.  Some instinctive part of him was afraid of flame, for he knew that it had the power to hurt him, but even though that part yelled at him to run away he found himself fixed to the spot.  For all its dangers, there was something so mesmerizing about the warm, flickering oranges and reds.  Even this far away, he could feel the difference in temperature as the monster warmed the air around them.  They cast a bright glow as they walked which made the snow glitter.  It would be nice to have light and warmth again …

The fire monster looked towards him, and the child quickly darted further into the trees.  Had he made a mistake and given away his presence?  He held as still as possible, body pressed down against the snow blanketing the ground, not moving an inch.  Not even breathing.  

After what felt like an eternity, the fire monster looked away.  They deposited a large bag into what looked like a tall, metal can, placing a matching lid on top of it, and returned to the building they had come from.  The door closed behind them with a soft creaking sound.  The boy remained still.  He stayed rooted to the spot long after the lights from the building’s windows went out and everything became silent and still.  Only when the gnawing pit of hunger in him became too much to bear and every bone of his body was so cold it felt like he was burning did he finally feel safe enough to move.

He stood and shook off the snow that had piled up on his back, watching as it tumbled to the ground, and carefully crept towards the dark, hopefully empty building.  Nothing changed as he approached, even when he dared to venture out of cover.  There was no light, no sound, and certainly no monster made of fire.  The creature sniffed at the air, searching for the scent that had drawn him here.  It was still there, though certainly not as strong as before.  It came from inside, past the barrier of the locked door, but also from somewhere much closer.  The metal can.  He stood on his hind legs, bracing himself against the container’s edge, and tried took a few deep breaths just to be sure.  

Between the enticing aroma and the sudden shift in center of gravity, a wave of dizziness easily overtook him and he staggered, sliding to the ground and accidentally taking the can with him.  The metal container hit the ground with a loud clattering sound that would have had the boy sprinting for the trees again if only the world wasn’t spinning quite so badly.  He whined silently, curling up into a tight ball in the snow until the vertigo passed and he could see clearly once more.  All was as it had been; still and silent.

Desperation overrode the boy’s fears and he threw caution to the wind, digging in the overturned can rather than running away like he probably should have.  Sharp claws shredded the bag easily, spilling its contents onto the snowy ground.  The creature nosed his way through the scattered items, picking out something that reminded him of the square things he and his sibling had found before.  It smelled like food, at least, and not at all like that horrible stuff that had made them so ill.  There was only one way to be sure though.  He ripped a small piece off of one end and snapped it up, swallowing it whole.  His throat burned, the pain strong enough that he would have whimpered if he’d been capable of it, but traces of pleasant warmth slowly spread through his body as his magic stirred.  It was real, not that awful not-food from the caverns.  The child trembled, shoulders shaking, and tears of grateful relief pricked at his eye sockets.  They were going to be okay.  

He dug through the spilled container, gathering all he could and placing whatever looked and smelled edible on a torn scrap of cloth.  Numb, shaking paws tied the bundle off as best they could and the boy snatched up his prize, carrying it in his teeth.  He wanted nothing more than to eat at last, perhaps curl up in the shelter of the metal container, and rest until the hollow ache and the weariness that dragged him down were gone.  Instead he set off at a sprint, darting from hiding place to hiding place until the well lit buildings were far behind him and he was safely hidden in the trees.  

Already his tracks from before were fading, the new snow filling them in as it fell, but he was able to find the trail and follow it back to his sibling easily.  He was a weapon, after all, made to track and hunt, and this sort of thing came naturally to him.  He quickly burned through the small boost of energy that the experimental bite had given him, but a heady mixture of excitement and relief spurred him onward.  

He almost didn’t recognize the shelter when at last it came into view.  It seemed sturdier than before, and certainly larger as well.  His brother had been busy gathering fallen branches and carefully arranging them into a proper lean-to roof for their little nest while he was away.  The boy approached at a trot, wagging his tail and doing his best to make some sort of sound around the prize clutched so tightly in his teeth.  A soft, crooning trill answered him, curious and hopeful.

The creature crawled under the new roof of their shelter, frozen paws sinking onto the pile of fabric.  He sparked his eye with what little magic he had left, lighting up the small, dark space inside the hollow of the tree with a pale blue glow. The sight of his sibling greeted him, though it wasn’t the reassurance it could have been.  The younger child was curled up in their nest, shaking so hard that not even layers of blankets could suppress the rattling.  Something white and cold, like snow but harder and thinner, covered the cloth as well as the exposed bone of his skull.  Half open eye sockets looked up at him and the child smiled, reaching a trembling hand out to gently pat his muzzle.  The child’s touch was frigid.  

He dropped the bundle of stolen scraps, nudging it towards his sibling, and changed form.  Almost immediately he found himself regretting the action as freezing cold air raced into his every joint.  Small hands pressed something soft against his own and guided him, helping him slip into the clothing he’d been forced to abandon earlier.  That felt a bit better, but not by much.  The strangely stiff and freezing cloth crunched as he tried to move, but at least it kept the cold air off of him.  The boy nudged his prize closer to the other child again, nodding eagerly in response to the questioning look his sibling gave him.  However, when the child tried to undo the knot in the tattered piece of cloth, he couldn’t seem to manage it.  His trembling fingers fumbled, ineffectual and numb.  The boy took his sibling’s hands in his own and rubbed them, the soft scrape of bone against bone helping to build up friction and return some warmth to frozen digits.  

'Thank you,’ the boy said with a quiet, squeaky bark, and when he tried again he was able to untie the cloth at last.  He marveled at the array of scraps that the boy had managed to bring back, staring up at him with wide, glimmering eyes and an amazement that could not be expressed, only felt.  The boy smiled at him, feeling as if his half frozen face might crack apart from the force of it but too happy to stop, and pressed something sweet smelling into his brother’s shaking hands.    

They split the small bundle of scraps between them, amazed by each new favor and texture they discovered, and tied up what little they were able to convince themselves to save for the next day.  They had learned their lesson in the caverns; take no more than you need to survive and save what remains, because you don’t know when you’ll find what you need again.  They buried the small stash of food at the bottom of their nest where it would be safe and curled up together beneath the blankets.  The warmth of newly restored magic soothed the boy’s soul, as did the contented smile on his younger brother’s face.  They watched the snow falling outside through tiny gaps in their shelter roof, the older boy using his hands to awkwardly spell out the new word he’d learned for his sibling, until the peaceful silence lulled them both to sleep.

—-

The child’s dreams were dark, as they often were.  Fear and torment filled in the gaps in his hazy memories, spinning nightmares that plagued his sleeping mind and woke him from his rest far too quickly.  He bolted upright, striking his head against the side of the tree they’d taken shelter in.  The boy gasped in pain and surprise, icy air flooding into his chest.  He curled up in as small a ball as he could manage and shivered, trying to banish the frigid feeling gripping at his soul and the phantom pain of shattered bone.  Trembling fingers prodded at his limbs, his ribs, his skull, searching for the damage he remembered so well and finding nothing but the awkward ridges and bumps left behind by the long, slow process of non-magical healing.  'It was a dream,’ he reminded himself over and over, 'that happened so long ago, there’s no need to be afraid anymore.  That was a dream.  This is real.  This is real.’

Seeking comfort and something that might ground him in the pleasant reality of freedom, he curled up close to his sibling.  The younger child was still asleep, something that didn’t always happen when the nightmares took him this way, and his breathing was soft and shallow.  Too shallow.  Where there should have been the warmth of magic beneath living bone, there was bitter cold.  The older child knew he wasn’t that much better off, but still it worried him greatly.  There had to be something he could do.  

Carefully and quietly, the boy crept out of their nest.  He shifted easily to his other form, buried his muzzle in the snow just in case, and focused on the core of his magic.  It was a simple process, just as easy as breathing.  The magic in him responded to his commands, resonating in a sort of feedback loop as he called for power yet did not release it.  Something inside of him twinged in a way that wasn’t right, but he ignored it.  His magic hummed brightly, beginning to glow beneath his ribs, and the twinge turned into a deep, tearing pain.  The boy yelped, or he would have if he’d been capable of proper sound, and let the power fade away.  It wasn’t quite what he’d hoped for, but at least some heat from the reaction had managed to seep into his bones.  He returned to the makeshift nest, nosing his way beneath the chilled scraps of cloth, and draped his newly warmed body across his sibling like a living blanket.  The younger child still did not wake, but the tension in his bones seemed to ease just a little as his breathing grew deeper and more relaxed.  

1-S carefully kindled his magic once more, barely tapping into that almost hypnotic resonance before backing off.  The faintest dregs of light glowed beneath his ribs, giving off a subtle warmth that flowed into the chilled body of his little brother.  It was all he could do, the very last of what he had to give.  The boy held on to that feeling as long as he could, his magic quietly humming even after fatigue won out and claimed him.  

Snow drifted silently through the secluded, peaceful forest, and the two children slept.


	4. Chapter 4

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry for the long wait on this one. I got carried away writing one-shots for the babyblasters fluff week on tumblr, wohoo! I'll put those fics up here eventually as well but for now ... on with the chapter!

The snow was coming down hard in the little town of Snowdin and, as usual, Grillby’s was packed with monsters searching for some hot food, cold drinks, and friendly company.  They sat in small groups, clustered around simple wooden tables, or chatted amiably on stools at the bar.  Some had half eaten plates of food, expertly cooked by the establishment’s owner, while others were there more for the experience than the menu.  Quite a few members of the royal guard canine unit, fresh from their evening shifts at the sentry stations, sat around a large table eating kibble and barking to one another in the secret language all canines seemed to share.  Someone lounged by the jukebox, occasionally picking out a song and filling the space with cheery music.

The bar was a gathering place for the little town, and it could also be a bit of a hotbed for gossip.  Once people are relaxed, especially if they’ve sought the assistance of something strongly alcoholic to get that way, they were more than willing to let a few secrets slip.  It was only between friends, they’d mutter to one another, ‘just between us so don’t go telling anybody I told you this’.  They never seemed to remember that the ever quiet barman and owner of the establishment was always there, always watching, always listening.  Grillby knew more than his share of secrets about the town’s inhabitants, though most times he never did anything with that information, and whenever there was a new development in town he was always amongst the first to know about it.  

“It’s been knocking over trash cans all over town,” a deer-like monster with meticulously filed horns said in the kind of harsh whisper that’s always more audible then you think it is, “it doesn’t feel safe around here at night anymore.”

“You’re just being paranoid,” replied a bear woman, not even bothering to pretend that the conversation was private.  She sipped at her drink, clearly not bothered by her companion’s paranoia.

“I am not.  I swear I heard it rattling my window the other night.”

The discussion caught Grillby’s interest, and he moved closer to their table.  They didn’t notice, the bar’s patrons hardly ever did.  The fire elemental was unobtrusive to say the least, soft spoken and slow to anger with the kind of comforting, steady presence that made him an ideal owner for this kind of business.  When people needed someone to tell their troubles to, he was there to listen.  When spirits were high and laughter rang loud and clear through the bar, he drifted from table to table unnoticed like a friendly shadow.  

“Ooh calm down, I bet it was just the wind.”

“There’s never a breeze strong enough to make that kind of sound.”

“Some kids playing a prank then, you know how teenagers are.”

Grillby had been hearing rumors about the unknown creature for quite a while now.   No two accounts were the same, and people just couldn’t seem to agree on what it was they’d seen.  Everyone knew that something was there though, the evidence it left behind was proof enough of that.  It was a mystery, and there’s nothing that gets people talking quite like a good mystery.  

An older man, one of the place’s most regular customers, took a long gulp of his drink and set the glass down heavily on the wooden surface of the bar.  “I set a trap for it.”

“George, no!” the woman gasped.  “That poor monster.”

The man spun on his bar stool, facing her and pointing an accusatory finger.  “That thing’s no monster!  It’s an animal, and a dangerous one at that.  It nearly tore right through my back door.”

“It’s not an animal,” the deer monster spoke up, more nervous than ever.  “I saw the thing with my own eyes, and it’s all made of bone.  No fur or scales or nothing.”

The woman nodded at him, her arms crossed.  “See George?  It’s a monster.  You hurt some poor skeleton that was probably cold and scared.”

George downed the last of his drink in one go and gestured with the empty glass.  “What kind of skeleton monster leaves four legged tracks and has claws that can cut into solid wood?  I’m telling you - “

Grillby reached out and placed a steady hand on top of the glass the old monster held, gently guiding him to put it safely down on the bar.  “I think you’ve had enough for tonight George,” he said, his voice faint and raspy like the crackle of a campfire.  

“But Grillby-”

“They say there’s going to be another blizzard.  Don’t you want to get home before it hits?”

Not all monsters, not even all of his regular customers, could understand the way he spoke, in no small part because most didn’t take the time to truly listen.  Thankfully, this crowd frequented the bar so often that they knew when to pay attention and were able to at least catch the important parts.

“Well … you’ve got a point there.”

“I should go too,” the bear woman said as she finished her drink.  She ushered George away from the bar, giving him a friendly pat on the back as he begrudgingly shuffled his way to the door.  “Don’t worry,” she told the barman as soon as he was out of earshot, “I’ll make sure he gets home safe.”

Things slowly returned to normal, the idle chatter that had died down so that the other patrons could watch the unexpected scene building back to its normal dull roar.  A high pitched bark carried over the racket, requesting a refill on the bowl of kibble that had been delivered to the guard dogs’ table earlier.  Grillby was happy to oblige, and carried a fresh bowl over.  

“Well,” he asked as he set the kibble down in front of the always cheerful Lesser Dog, “which one is it?  A monster or an animal?”  

“Who knows,” one of the senior guards, Dogamy, answered.  He was idly fidgeting with the handle of a large, dangerous looking battleaxe.  “We’ve gotten all kinds of strange reports about the thing.  Doesn’t seem to match any known monster or animal.”

Doggo, the guard’s newest recruit, leaned overt the table.  “Maybe it’s both,” he muttered darkly around a half-smoked dog treat clenched tight in his sharp teeth.

Beneath the shadow of his hood, Dogamy was rolling his eyes.  “Ooh not this again.”

“It could happen,” the younger dog said sharply, his words almost like a bark despite the fact that he wasn’t actually speaking in the language of dogs at the moment.  “We’ve been living here so long that our magic’s rubbed off on the place, so why not the animals too?  I mean, have you seen that bird that lives over in Waterfall?”

“An intelligent bird is one thing, but this?”  Dogamy shook his head with a soft growl.  His faithful wife Dogaressa patted his arm, easily calming him down.  

Of all the royal guard dogs in Snowdin, Dogaressa was the one most people went to with their troubles.  When the captain was away, she and Greater Dog shared the task of second in command and were de facto leaders of their unit.  And while Greater Dog was a wonderful person, he wasn’t exactly good at speaking anything except Dog, which left the lady guard the unenviable task of dealing with panicked townspeople.  Dogaressa leaned closer to Grillby, speaking softly to keep their conversation from being overheard.  “Some people are saying it’s a bone dog, but at least one person said he swore it had a head like a dragon and could walk on two legs.”

“They’re not too far off,” the elemental admitted.  The guard dogs stared at him, their eyes wide as saucers.  A few stray crumbs of kibble fell from Lesser Dog’s half open mouth.  Grillby just shrugged.  “I’ve seen it behind the bar once or twice.  From what I could make out, it was more or less canine and definitely skeletal.”  

“Why didn’t you tell us?!” Dogamy exclaimed, rising from his chair.  Instantly the background buzz of chatter silenced, every eye in the bar drawn to him and his outburst.  Dogaressa pulled him back down by the arm, apologizing to the other patrons.  

Gradually things returned to normal, but still the dogs stared Grillby down.  He sighed softly.  “I’m sorry, I just didn’t think it was important.  It knocks over my garbage and makes a mess, that’s all.”

Doggo chomped down on his treat, nearly snapping it in two.  “That thing’s terrorizing the town.  We need to catch it.”

“And then what?”

“ … well … we aren’t sure yet.”

The elemental sighed again.  He’d been afraid of something like this.  Maybe the thing he’d seen really was an animal, if a strange one, and maybe it was a new kind of monster they simply hadn’t seen before.  Either way, he didn’t think it was hurting anyone.  It certainly didn’t deserve to be hunted down by the royal guard.  “Perhaps, whatever this creature is, it’s just hungry.”

Dogaressa looked up at him with sympathetic eyes.  “I appreciate what you’re trying to do, but we have to catch it one way or another if only to stop this panic before things go too far.  You heard what George said, people are already trying to take matters into their own hands.”

He hated to admit it, but Grillby knew she was right.  George was mostly harmless and known for stretching the truth, but if he actually had set a trap for the creature … well, Grillby didn’t like the sound of that one little bit.  And once one person goes to such lengths, others are sure to follow.  Perhaps it would be best if the guard intervened and ended things quickly, even if it went badly for the mysterious creature.  “Of course.  If I see it again, I’ll let you know.”

The rest of the evening passed without incident, even the most regular of the bar’s patrons choosing to pack it in early and head home for the night as the drifting snow outside began to fall steadily faster.  On nights like this one, Grillby was especially glad that he didn’t have to venture far from his bar.  In fact, he didn’t have to leave the building at all.  He’d spent quite a bit of time and effort fixing up the upper floor of the sturdy structure, turning it into a cozy apartment space for himself which he always enjoyed returning to at the end of a long day.  

He cleaned tables, swept floors, and washes dishes with the aid of long, rubber gloves until the bar and everything in it was neat and tidy at last.  One final trip to the kitchen to make himself a late dinner and he was nearly ready to retreat to his rooms for the night.  The front door was already locked, the lights switched off quite some time ago since he only needed his own ambient glow to see by, and the trash collected in a small bag just waiting to be taken out back.  

Grillby’s thoughts drifted once more to the mysterious creature he’d seen.  He’d heard an odd sound behind the bar one night, before the sightings began, but hadn’t thought much of it at the time.  Perhaps it was the wind knocking something over, he’d thought, or even his own imagination.  The morning after, when he discovered his trash can overturned and spilled garbage half buried in snow, he’d realized that it had to be something more.  Then the rumors started, anxious townspeople whispering back and forth about similar vandalism and glimpses of a strange, pale creature stalking the streets at night.  

He’d seen the thing a few times himself, though never for more than an instant.  Sometimes he was sure he felt it staring at him from its hiding place in the dark shadows of the forest.  It seemed to frequent his bar often, almost as often as his customers, and lately he’d even started going out of his way to save some scraps for the creature.  He’d figured out fairly quickly that his trash was only raided when there was something edible inside, and if he made sure to place any food scraps in a separate bag he wouldn’t have to deal with much of a mess at all the following morning.  The creature was smart, there was no denying that.  Perhaps it was even as smart as a monster.    

There were no food scraps in his trash that evening, he realized with a twinge of regret as he placed the bag in the can and retreated back to the warmth and shelter of his bar.  Perhaps he could find something else to put in there.  If the creature came, as it often did, no doubt it would appreciate the easy meal.  Logically, the elemental knew it wasn’t smart to feed potentially dangerous strays like this, but he felt bad for the creature.  Especially on nights like this, when the snow fell thick and the very air was icy cold.  He started to head back out into the snow, thinking he would retrieve the bag and find some food to add to it just in case, when movement from outside caught his attention.  He huddled by the window, keeping the glow of his flames low, and watched silently as the creature crept towards him.  

It was smaller than he’d thought, and definitely not a canine.  At least, not entirely.  The rounded edges of a sloping crest unlike anything the elemental had seen before jutted out from the back of its skull.  Its proportions were subtly off as if its head were a bit too big for its body.  A juvenile then, perhaps even a puppy for lack of a better word.  Why would a creature so young be out on its own?  There had to be others somewhere, at least a parent of some kind.  Maybe this one was lost?

The creature drew close, cautious and careful.  Grillby’s soul clenched in sympathy when he realized that it was limping.  George hadn’t been lying about his trap after all.  It stumbled, forelimbs sinking deeper into the thick blanket of snow, and struggled to pull itself free.  The elemental watched with a heavy heart as the creature staggered towards him, raising its head as if sniffing at the air.  Whatever it was searching for, the creature clearly did not find it.  Its pace slowed until it simply stood there, ankle deep in the snow, shaking.  He couldn’t stand it any longer.  

The elemental snatched up the plate of food he’d made for himself and opened the back door as quietly as he could.  Even the soft squeak of well oiled hinges was enough to alert the creature to his presence.  It darted away, bounding through the snow as best it could.  Tiny drops of something dark splattered onto the snow, falling from its injured leg, and it stumbled again as it reached the treeline.  Grillby had expected it to just keep running at that point, the creature had a bit of a reputation for bolting away the instant it was spotted and leaving little to no trace behind, but instead it waited just within the protective line of trees.  He could just barely make out the steam of its breath as it panted, chest heaving but otherwise immobile.  A single bright eye watched him from the darkness, glowing a luminous, pale blue.

Already the quickly falling snow was covering up the strange substance it had left behind, and he could see little more than a faint trace of red against white.  In no time, even the fresh tracks would be buried.  It might not be impossible to track the thing, but it would certainly be impractical and the risk of ending up lost in the woods during the encroaching blizzard was too great to make going after it an option.  Grillby heaved a heavy sigh, wishing he could do more.  Skeletal creatures might be able to stand the cold better than most, but no living thing should be out in weather like this.    

The fire monster moved with telegraphed slowness, gingerly setting the plate on the ground near the trashcan.  He never took his eyes off the creature as he moved, and its gaze followed him intently as he backed away.  He didn’t stop until he was back in the bar, where he slowly closed the door.  Careful to keep his light from projecting too far, he returned to the window and searched for any sign of the creature.  He’d hoped that, with him gone, it might return.  Instead, the woods were dark and empty.  

Grillby waited there, watching silently, for hours, but the creature did not reappear.  Eventually, he reluctantly locked the door and went to bed.  His dreams were haunted by the image of that strange, pale blue eye.  

The next morning, he dug the untouched plate of food out of the snow with a heavy heart.  He didn’t see the creature again for many days.  

—-

A small figure raced through the woods, pale white bone blending in almost seamlessly with the snow that blanketed the area.  He slowed to a limping trot once he felt he was far enough away from the lights of the nearby town.  The forest was quiet and still, all but empty except for him.

Going into the town was nerve wracking, but worth it most of the time.  He didn’t really understand why some monsters would put things like food out in tall containers behind their homes, but he wasn’t going to question it.  Not when there were no other options available.  He’d gotten into the habit of prowling through the town at night, when there were hardly any monsters left awake to see him, hunting until he caught the scent of something edible.  Most often, that led him to containers like the first one he’d found, which could be dug through or knocked over to get at the contents.  The boy liked nights like that, when food came easily and he could run back to the nest to share his prize.  Even if he didn’t find much, the brothers didn’t need all that much to keep going.  At least, that’s what he told himself.  

All too often though, he didn’t find any enticing scents to follow or the ones he did discover led him to locked doors and latched windows.  He’d only managed to break in to a building once, and even though he hadn’t been spotted, the experience of actually being in a monster’s house had frightened him so badly that he’d almost left empty handed.  Those were the bad nights, the times when he slunk back to his sibling with nothing to show for his efforts.  2-P was never upset with him when he failed, but watching his little brother try so hard to put on a brave face and pretend that he wasn’t hungry and weary and cold hurt more than anything the people in the town could do to him.  Well … almost anything.

His leg still stung from where the sharp metal teeth of some unseen trap had snatched at him many days ago.  He’d been so scared, barely managing to contain yowling cries of pain as he scratched and scrambled to get away.  In the end he’d taken the entire trap with him, bolting into the forest before collapsing on his side, splatters of something red mixed with the glittering blue of magic dotting the ground and showing the path he’d taken.  He’d never been more thankful for snow as he had been that night.  The falling flecks of white covered his trail as its cold seeped into him and numbed his bones.  In time, he’d recovered enough to study the trap properly and managed to find a way to free himself, leaving the metal horror behind and fleeing to the safety of the nest.  His brother had fussed over him, cleaning the deep puncture marks as best he could and wrapping them tight in some scraps of white cloth from one of their blankets.  He’d insisted that the boy stay away from the village that night and the next, even though it meant going hungry.  

He hadn’t had a decent hunt ever since.  Though he’d been able to find the occasional scrap, it was never enough to truly banish their hunger.  1-S always tried to give most of what he found to his brother, but the younger child would catch on quickly and refuse to eat until he knew his sibling would as well.  Sometimes, when painful coughs rattled his frame and stains began seeping through his bandages, he would catch the younger boy staring at him with a troubled look in his eyes.  

Though the child had volunteered to go on hunts for him, he’d refused each time.  It wasn’t safe in their two legged forms.  Although he kept trying, each of 2-P’s attempts to focus through the pain his collar caused and transform ended in failure.  He’d even asked his brother to use his claws and remove the collar for him, the way he’d done with his own, but the request was met with horrified refusal.  1-S had hurt himself in a way he feared would never heal in order to be free of his collar, he refused to risk his brother’s life and health that way too.  

The creature spotted the familiar sight of the branch lean-to he and his sibling called home, and the normally comforting image filled him with regret.  He considered going out again, trying to find some new trail to follow, but he knew there wasn’t anything to be had.  The one scent he’d managed to pick up on his rounds led back to one of the few places he couldn’t go; the fire monster’s house.  It wasn’t that he feared that place, per say, in fact it used to be his first stop each night.  The fire monster left the best food, certainly the easiest to get as well, but he couldn’t go back there any more.  At least, not for a while longer.  He’d been spotted thanks to his own carelessness, and even though the monster hadn’t attacked him, it was still too dangerous to risk going back just yet lest he run right into another trap.

The creature limped up to the little den he called home and poked his head in, letting out a small huff of air as a greeting.  The soft natural glow of his eyes cast a faint white light into the space, just barely enough to see by.  His sibling was curled up in their nest, huddled beneath the mound of dirty blankets, but the child sat up to greet him with a weary smile and a loving pat on the head.

'Did you find anything?’ the younger boy asked with a whine, his normally bright voice made rough from coughing.

1-S shook his head sadly.  He sat just beyond the edge of their home, tail curled tight around his ankles, skull hanging low in shame.  He didn’t want to see the look of disappointment that passed through his sibling’s eyes, no matter how quickly the boy managed to mask it and pretend that it had never been there in the first place.  Small hands reached for him, hooking onto his scapula and tugging with gentle insistence, and he let his sibling draw him into the safety of their shelter.  The child hugged him and pet his spine, his scratchy voice crooning soft reassurances, and the creature nuzzled up against him in silent reply.  Though he still felt guilty for failing yet again, his brother always seemed to know how to make him feel better.  

He longed for the soft warmth of their salvaged clothing, but it didn’t fit right over his four legged form and tripped him up when he tried to move.  The boy already had enough problems moving swiftly these days, and he certainly could not afford any more.  He burrowed into their nest instead, twisting his flexible form into as small a ball as he could manage.  His long, thin tail draped over his muzzle and he resisted the urge to chew on it the way both he and his brother used to when they were small.  With the faintest hint of fond laughter, the younger boy covered his sibling with one of their more intact blankets and joined him in the dark little den.  

The child was shaking.  It seemed like the pair of them were always shaking these days, formerly steady hands trembling through even the simplest of tasks.  He nudged the other boy fondly, nuzzling against him again, and tried to hide his distress at the feel of unnatural heat in 2-P’s skull and chest that did nothing to warm the rest of him.  He recognized the signs of fever, having felt them himself more times than he’d care to remember, but didn’t know what to do about them.  He didn’t have needles or pills like the tall man and the people in white coats did.  

The younger child curled up against him, coughing into his hand with a pained wince that he thought the boy couldn’t see.  His brother was sick, there was no denying it.  Deep down, he knew they both were.  1-S couldn’t run anymore without his breath coming short and haggard, deep coughs stabbing at his ribs and shaking his entire body.  His throat ached with a constant, steady pain that would turn into wrenching agony if he tried to gather his magic.  Each time he changed form, the world would fade away in a haze of deafening gray, his vision shrinking and dimming until everything was dark.  It should have been easy, just a simple slide from one shape to another, without the collar’s magic trying to trap him.  Instead he struggled, reaching for his own magic as it kept sliding further and further from his grasp, and everything seemed stretched and thin and wrong until the silent shadows consumed his mind completely.  The boy didn’t know how long he stayed that way, his sibling never told him, but each time he would wake in his brother’s arms, called back by a gentle touch and a familiar, soothing voice.  He didn’t change form very much any more.  

The brothers curled up together, comforted by one another’s presence, and tried to rest.  The cold seeped into their bones, settling in their marrow and making each joint ache.  The boy longed for dawn, knowing that morning would bring the slightest increase to the otherwise frigid temperature which, while imperceptible to most, would be the only relief they were likely to find that day. In the meantime, the only thing he could offer to his ailing sibling was his own warmth.  He shifted slightly, drawing his legs under him, and reached for the magic that lay hidden in his soul.  A faint glow sparked to life, lighting up the dark hollow of his ribs and shining out through gaps in the pile of fabric around him to tint their den with stripes of pale blue.  The ache in his throat blossomed into a familiar burn.  A shaking hand brushing against the side of his neck startled the creature, making him lose his focus, and the glow vanished.

“Don’t,” the child rasped, his voice breaking.  He switched to their language when the words failed him.  'It’s okay.  You don’t have to.’

The creature tried to whimper to him, breath hitching with the failed attempt, and nudged his muzzle against the other boy’s hand.  He didn’t have to, that was true, but it was the only thing he could think of that might be able to help.  His light glowed softly once more, growing steadily brighter as magical energy resonated in his chest.  Pain raced through him, stabbing into his throat and gripping at his very core, but he held on to the feeling of heat slowly building up beneath his ribs.  If he could only make it last, control the power he possessed long enough, they could at least be warm till morning came.  The boy pushed himself further, trying to reach that feedback loop of building energy that used to be so simple to achieve, and bit back a silent yelp as a bolt of pure agony struck at his soul.  The world lost all its color and sound, blackness creeping up on him like rising water.

He woke some time later with his head resting in his brother’s lap.  The younger child was slumped against the wooden walls of their shelter, his body tilted an an odd, almost sideways angle.  A cold hand rested on his back from where the other boy had likely fallen asleep petting his spine.  He whimpered soundlessly, giving the sleeping child a gentle nudge.  The younger skeleton was too cold and the magic in his chest burned too hot.  Carefully, the boy inched his sibling down into a more comfortable position.  He pressed the side of his muzzle against the child’s skull, troubled by the heat he found there.  

Fear and dread rose up in him, like a heavy, choking weight in his chest.  He shook the younger boy, but his brother wouldn’t wake no matter what he did.  There was nothing he could do, no help he could offer, except for one thing.  He curled his body around the other child and kindled his magic, making it hum and glow within him.  Familiar jolts of pain seized him, protesting even this small accumulation of energy, but he pushed through it until warmth began to radiate from his heaving ribs once more.  Though worry told him to try harder, to reach for more, he didn’t dare go any further.  The world seemed dim and muted, the edges of his vision lost to shadow.  The creature held on to this energy as long as he could, stopping only when bouts of rattling coughs shot through him, until the darkness finally won out and claimed him again.  

Each time he woke, it was the same.  He would call upon his power, warming himself and his sibling, until his body gave out and plunged him into unconsciousness.  The weak light of underground morning came and slowly brightened into day, but he hardly took notice of it.  Daytime was dangerous, more monsters roamed the streets and the risk of being spotted even from the normally safe cover of the forest was too great.  1-S had only ventured out during the day once, after one too many lean nights made him reckless and desperate, but he’d been spotted almost immediately and had to sprint all across the forest just to make sure he wasn’t leading anyone or anything back to their little sanctuary.  Since then, it had become an unspoken rule that they would only ever leave the nest during the day if it was a matter of life or death.  He ignored the light, turning his head away from its glow, and burned the magic beneath his ribs for as long as he could.  

The day slipped away from him, lost to a darkness of his own making, until he woke to find only the dim light of evening.  Each time he used his power, he seemed to take longer to wake.  How long had it been this time?  How long had he left his little brother without warmth?  The boy rose, aching joints protesting every motion, and tried once more to shake his sibling awake.  The child was limp in his grasp, his bones icy cold save for the unnatural, soul smothering heat trapped in his skull and chest.  Dread turned to panic as the creature realized just how futile his attempts had been.  His little brother needed him, and time after time he’d failed.  There had to be something he could do!  

His thoughts raced, desperately searching for the answers they needed.  They could go back.  The tall man might forgive him if he brought his brother back to the lab.  Ooh certainly he would be punished, broken, made to obey without mind or will of his own if he wasn’t simply put down for running away and taking his sibling with him in the first place, but surely Doctor and the monsters in the white coats would fix 2-P.  Though the thought made him shudder with dread, he’d be lying if he said it wasn’t also tempting.

No, there had to be some other way.  Some solution that didn’t involve his own probable death and returning his little brother to the life they had risked everything to be free from.  He just had to think.  The creature paced in the small, confined space, circling it in tight, cramped turns with his head ducked low.  What did people use to cure sickness?  Well, the tall man used his pills and needles, but they couldn’t do that.  What else then?  1-S had vague memories of when he was small.  Most weren’t the kind of thing he wanted to dwell on, and he’d felt sickness more than a few times.  He remembered being fed a pleasingly hot liquid and wrapped up in something warm and soft.  The ghosts of half-remembered feelings sparked other scenes to replay in his mind.  2-P had been ill before too, when he’d been small and new and helpless.  The tall man had given them their blanket then, and he’d wrapped the tiny child in it to keep him warm.  

The boy prodded the soft blankets of their nest.  It was safe and secret, but far from warm.  Snow and wind got in through the stacked branches that shielded them, and a thin, shimmering layer of something almost like snow but much harder would form over the fabric and their bones most every night.  He tried his best to make it comfortable, but no matter how much of his own magic he managed to convert into heat it just wasn’t enough.  Not that he could keep up even that much for too long any more.  Perhaps, if he could find something better for his brother, then the younger child might recover.  Some place warm.  Some place safe.  Maybe …

The last thing 1-S wanted to do was trust a monster.  Monsters hurt and feared them.  They screamed and chased and set traps, but not all of them were the same.  There was one that had never screamed, never chased, never been anything but still and quiet even when he was far too close for comfort.  The fire monster who sometimes put good food in the metal cylinder.  The one whose house always smelled of warmth and good things.  Fire could be dangerous, it could burn and hurt and destroy, but it could also give warmth and light.  

The creature laid beside his sibling, nudging the child with his muzzle. If there was one thing he feared more than monsters, even more than returning to the tall man, it was losing his brother.  2-P was too sick to stay here any longer, so they had to go somewhere else.  He had to take a chance.  

With unsteady clawed paws, numb and trembling from the cold that he could never quite be rid of, the boy managed to dig his sibling free of the layers of cloth they had buried themselves under.  He dragged the unresponsive child out of their nest and into the snow, then carefully dug his way under the younger boy until he’d managed to hoist the limp body up onto his back.  Frozen limbs shook with every step, skeletal paws sinking deep into the snow.  He stumbled once or twice and had to stop even more often, panting and heaving as cold air stung him from the inside out.  Sometimes he was tempted to just lay down and rest, but then he’d feel too hot breath ghosting against his bones and would find the strength to stagger to his feet and carry on.  

The creature knew these woods well.  He wove his way through the trees unseen by the people of the village, keeping far away from the rows of cheery, well lit buildings until he knew his target was close.  Only then did he turn towards the town.  When at last he left the protection of the trees, he found himself standing behind the familiar, tall building with the tempting smell.  

He carefully lowered himself to the ground and let his sibling roll onto the snow.  The child laid there limply, his breath steaming the air with faint puffs of white.  The creature rested his head against the younger boy’s chest for a moment or two, ribs heaving as he tried to regain his own breath.  He could sense the child’s magic, in so many ways a mirror to his own, still pulsing weakly in him.  He had to protect that magic, that soul, at any cost.  He tried to bark.  The sound that came out of him was broken and distorted, even that little bit of volume causing shards of pain to rip through his throat, but it was still sound.  He hoped that it would be enough.

1-S staggered to his feet, tilted his head back, and howled for all he was worth.


	5. Chapter 5

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So, umm, you know how I mentioned getting to the core formula of what makes this AU so good … well I never said we’d stay there. Time to deviate the plot into something a bit different~.
> 
> Ooh, also!! (and because I forgot to put this up at first I'll try and mention it in the next chapter's notes too), there's fanart for this!! Which wasn't drawn by meeee~! Go check out gossyreblogs' awesome fantastic sketch, I reblogged it over on [tumblr](http://ashadowcalledkei.tumblr.com/post/140476709751/gossyreblogs-dang-its-been-a-while-since-ive). You should go give them some love!

Grillby’s bar was strangely quiet.  It had been that way for several days, bitter cold and fear of the unknown creature in their midst driving most of his normal patrons to stay safe in their homes.  He probably should have resented the thing, or at least been irritated with the situation, but the fire elemental couldn’t find it in himself to feel that way towards the mysterious skeletal animal.  Besides, it wasn’t as if the bar was entirely empty.  The royal guard would often meet there after their shifts ended to discuss the day’s events, and that evening was no different.  He carried a few bowls of fresh kibble over for them, placing one down in front of Dogamy who was idly polishing the blade of his battleaxe.  Normally, the barman wasn’t a fan of weapons at the table, but for tonight he let it slide.  

“You’re sure it hasn’t come back, Grillby?” the canine guardsman asked for what was easily the fourth time that evening.  

“I gave you my word that I’d tell you if it did.”  Just as he’d promised, the elemental had reported his sighting of the creature to the guard.  They’d asked him to keep an eye out, but unfortunately he hadn’t seen any trace of it since.  Not a day went by that he didn’t regret his actions.  What had he been thinking, rushing out there like that?  The thing was, for all intents and purposes, a wild animal. You can’t scare a wild animal and expect it to stick around.  It might still return in time, when hunger provided no other options, but in the meantime all he’d managed to do was drive it away from one of the only people in town willing to help it.  He’d let his emotions get the better of him and in doing so had done more harm than good.  “I think it must be afraid of me now.”

“Either that or it wasn’t looking for food after all.”

Unsaid implications hung off of his words, and Grillby didn’t like the sound of them.  It was certainly possible that the creature wasn’t what he’d assumed and that it might really be causing all this trouble for less than innocent reasons.  However, the elemental didn’t want to believe that.  It just didn’t make sense to him, not after staring the creature in the eyes the way he had.  Whatever it was, he refused to think of it as malicious.  

“I really don’t think -”

A yowling cry, high pitched and horrible, cut through the air.  The dogs whimpered softly at the sound of it, the younger guardsmen pressing their ears flat to their heads in a mostly failed attempt to block it out.  The sound was awful, a grating and broken thing no living creature should ever produce.  

“It’s close,” Dogaressa said as she rose, her own battleaxe at the ready.  Her normally kind and gentle eyes seemed hard as stone.  “Let’s go.”

The dogs snatched up their weapons and left, sprinting out the front door of the bar into the snow.  Grillby hesitated for only a moment before chasing after them, hot on their heels as they rounded the building, leaving a scattering of paw shaped tracks that were easy to follow.  Luckily they seemed to be the only ones racing to the source of the strangely chilling sound, because what was waiting for them at the edge of the woods behind Grillby’s bar would have likely caused a panic.

The creature was just as he remembered, its strange, skeletal form all the more otherworldly in the weak light of underground evening.  It howled, if the warped sound it made could truly be called a howl, its oddly elongated head tilted back towards the cavern ceiling.  When they approached, the scraping, shattered sound finally stopped and the thing watched them warily, pinpricks of white light burning in deep, dark eye sockets.  Its jaw hung open, hot breath misting the air in short, sharp pants.  That much he was prepared for, but there was something else that shook Grillby to his core; the creature was not alone.  It stood next to the sprawled form of what looked like a child, lying still and silent in a heap in the snow.  

“By the angels,” Dogaressa whispered, just as shocked by the sight as he was.  

Lesser dog whined, the tone alone making it clear that they didn’t like what they saw.  They stood their ground though, sword aimed towards the unknown thing that seemed to be neither monster nor animal.  The sight of the weapon, metal flashing silver in the dim light, seemed to shake the creature out of its stupor.  It inched backwards until it stood over the eerily still form of the child, forelimbs planted firmly on either side of their small skull.  Glowing eyes darted from person to person, though Grillby couldn’t help but notice how often that gaze lingered on him.  There was something there, a sort of pleading stare he couldn’t quite understand, but each time any of the dogs so much as blinked, the creature’s attention snapped to them and its eye lights shrank to wavering, fearful pinpricks.  

Dogamy hefted his battleaxe, powerful arms bringing the weapon to bear as if it weighed nothing.  “We have to get that poor kid away from it before they’re hurt any worse.”

“And fast,” his wife agreed, shaking herself back to reality and taking charge of the situation.  “Lesser, if we get the kid, can you run them to the doctor in Waterfall?  We’ll handle the rest.”

Without warning, the creature went rigid.  The begging stare that had silently called to Grillby winked out as the lights vanished in the creature’s eye sockets, making it look hollow and alien.  It shook violently, bones rattling as they clattered together.  Bright blue light flared to life in one of its empty sockets, burning like flame.  

“What’s it doing?” Doggo asked, the young guardsman reaching for his trusty knives.

The glow of magic cut through the shadows, but it didn’t belong to Grillby or the dogs or even the child.  It shone from within the creature.  They watched in fascinated dread as the beast lit up from the inside, a white hot glow radiating out and streaking the snow in bars of tinted light.  The creature shook harder, rattling and clicking wildly, its spine arched in a painful looking bend as its claws dug into the snow.  Something dark dripped onto the ground, steaming and hissing from unknown heat, melting tiny divots in what remained of the torn up blanket of snow beneath it.  It opened its mouth wide and the monsters stared in frozen horror as its lower jaw split open, light flaring brightly in the darkness of its maw.  

“Look out!”  Dogamy grabbed Lesser dog, throwing both of them to the ground an instant before a beam of raw magic ripped free of the creature and seared the very air where the canine guard had been standing.  The edge of the beam caught Dogamy, tearing through the thick robe he always wore and burning the fur off of his back in a long, charred stripe.  Dogaressa yelped in distress, going to her mate and shielding him with her own body lest the creature attack again.  

But it didn’t, at least not at first.  It stumbled, staggered, and nearly pitched forward into the snow.  Somehow it stayed on all four feet, swaying wildly as it did, and lifted its head to stare them down again.  The light of its single glowing eye was wide and dim, a faint disk of washed out blue shining in the darkness.  

Greater Dog stepped forward, placing himself between the creature and his fallen comrades, his massive spear raised in front of himself as if that alone could shield them all from harm.  The creature didn’t like this one little bit.  It hissed, bifurcated jaw fluttering open and clicking madly, making a harsh, dry sound unlike any that Grillby had ever heard.  Doggo winced, pressing his ears back to block it out.  

“What’s it saying?” the fire elemental asked, inching backwards yet not taking his eyes off the creature and the captive child.  

“Nothing,” Doggo said, his words underscored with a faint whimper, “that’s not our language.  It’s not anything.”

The creature inched back, and for a moment Grillby thought it might retreat into the woods like it always had before.  He wished it would.  Instead, its gaze flickered to the child lying prone at its feet and it stood its ground.  The thing let out a soft, low growl, scraping and broken like rocks sliding down a mountainside, and a dull light began to glow from inside the dark hollow of its ribs once more.  They all tensed, knowing what was about to happen, and the elemental caught sight of Greater Dog shifting his grip on his spear until the weapon was held low and away.  The massive guard dog braced himself, hunched low like a coiled spring, ready to pounce.

“No, wait!” Grillby called, but he was far too late and his shout far too quiet to stop the canine.

Greater dog dashed forward, one massive gloved fist swinging out.  He struck the side of the creature’s head, sending it flying sideways where it collided with the thick trunk of a sturdy tree.  The beast crumpled to the ground and lay still, the light in its eye and chest going dark with the faint hiss of dissipating magic.  

For a moment or two, an oppressively silent stillness settled over them all.  They waited, tense and wary, for the creature to rise and resume the attack.  It did not.  As it lay there, snow slowly beginning to gather on pale bone, Grillby consoled himself with the knowledge that at least it had not turned to dust.  It wasn’t dead, at least he didn’t think so.  Dogaressa began to rise but stopped herself, glancing nervously towards her mate.

“I’m alright love,” Dogamy reassured his bride as he leaned against Lesser Dog for support.

That was all she needed to hear.  Leaving her weapon behind, the guardswoman rushed to where the child lay and gathered them into her arms.  She rocked them, gently patting at their skull, and whined soft, soothing sounds despite the fact that she could not manage to wake her new charge.  “Poor little thing.  They’re practically frozen.”

“Here, let me.”  Grillby reached for the child, gently taking them from the canine’s strong arms.  He hadn’t expected the kid to weigh much, skeletons rarely did, but the small form was so light, so frail seeming in his grasp, that found himself double-checking to make sure they weren’t missing any limbs.  Though their bones felt like blocks of ice against his flames, the elemental recognized an unnatural heat lingering in the core of the child’s magic.  He cradled the limp form close, radiating his own steady warmth to chase away the chill that plagued them.  “They’re sick, but I don’t see any injuries.”

“Should we still take them to the doctor?” Doggo asked, inching closer to try and get a good look at the kid.  Grillby moved obligingly, rocking the child just enough so that he would be able to see them.

“It might be best to put that off until tomorrow.  It’s already late and it will only get colder tonight.”  The elemental didn’t like the idea of transporting a child this ill so far on such a bad night.  “They need some place warm and safe, a good meal, and medicine.  I doubt any doctor could do much more than that for them, at least till morning.”

Dogaressa nodded.  She brushed a gentle paw against the sleeping child’s head, worry and sadness clouding her eyes.  “Grillby, could you take them in for now?”

“Me?” he asked, his flames popping faintly with surprise.  

“You said it yourself, they need good food and warmth and comfort.  I can’t think of anyone more qualified to provide those things.”  She looked to him with a faintly troubled smile and enough sincerity to prove that her words were not just empty flattery.  “If you’d be up for it, I mean.  If not, we can find someone else.”

“It’s fine.”  Though Grillby didn’t fancy himself the parental sort, he knew enough to get by.  Besides, try as he might he couldn’t think of a decent alternative.  Most people in town who would be willing to take in a lost child weren’t able to do so, their homes already crowded past capacity.  The guard couldn’t watch the kid either, they would be too busy trying to keep up their normal patrols while also dealing with the creature.  The fire elemental looked at the small child in his arms, dressed in mismatched layers of ragged clothing and coated in enough dirt to make their otherwise white bones appear splotchy and dull.  They were so still and cold and quiet, and yet they seemed to be relaxing ever so subtly as his heat slowly warmed them.  What had this poor child been through?  “I’ll do what I can.”

“But what about their family?” Dogamy asked his mate as he and Lesser Dog approached, “we’ve got to find them and let them know what happened.”

“We don’t know where to start, at least not yet.  There haven’t been any reports of missing children for months, let alone missing skeleton kids.”

Grillby had his doubts that they would ever find this child’s parents.  From their abysmal state, it was clear this kid had been alone for far too long.  The happy home they might have once known was probably long gone, if they’d ever had that kind of home at all.  Eventually they would have to find a new home for them, something permanent and safe, but for now the elemental had other more immediate concerns.  “What will you do with the creature?”

Dogamy whined softly, glancing back towards the beast’s crumpled from.  “We can’t just let it go.  It’s too dangerous.”

“Some people have been asking to have it put down,” replied Doggo, his quiet tone caught somewhere between fear and sympathy.

“You can’t,” the elemental said in a harsh whisper underscored with the crackle of flame.  'Monsters don’t just kill like that’, he wanted to say, but he couldn’t.  He couldn’t because he knew all too well that sometimes that’s exactly what monsters do.  

“We’re not going to,” Dogaressa answered firmly, shutting down that train of thought before any of them could dwell on it.  “For now, I think it would be best if we locked it up in the guardhouse.  We’ve got a cell there, it should be strong enough.”  

Doggo gestured wildly, barely restrained panic bristling his fur and shining his his eyes.  “Are you crazy?  You saw what this thing can do, no way those bars would keep it from busting out and killing us all.”

“The muzzle?” Dogamy asked, making the other dogs whine and pin their ears back in distress at the mere mention of the thing.  The guard had to be prepared for all possible threats to the safety of Snowdin and its citizens, and as such they had access to strong restraints the likes of which no one ever wanted to see used.  Grillby had always thought it to be a bit excessive, but now he could understand why such precautions were in place.

Though she was clearly unhappy with the suggestion, as they all were, Dogaressa nodded in agreement.  “I think we have to.”

Greater Dog carefully lifted the creature, bringing it with him as he rejoined his fellow guardsmen.  Its limbs hung limp and useless as its head lolled against the canine’s arm.  It seemed like little more than a pile of dry bone, but it was still there, still solid, still very much alive.  This close, Grillby could see what looked like stained lengths of white fabric, splattered with vivid splotches of red and shimmering blue, wrapped around its neck and leg.  It hadn’t tied those on itself, so where had they come from?  The child, perhaps?  Had they met in the woods somewhere and, instead of running in fear like most people would, this small skeleton child took pity on the wounded beast?

A pattern of fine cracks decorated the side of the creature’s skull like a spiderweb.  Not true fractures, they weren’t deep enough for that, but the hit had caused damage all the same as had the impact with the tree.  The fire elemental frowned deeply.  Greater Dog could hit quite hard, that was true, but not this hard.  Bone should be more resilient than this.  

“Will you heal it?” he asked, concern making his flames burn a bit higher.  

Dogaressa dared to approach them and set a gentle paw on the beast’s skull.  It remained silent and still save for the faint motion of its ribs as it drew in shallow breaths.  “If it’s possible.  We still don’t know what this creature really is.”

Greater Dog whimpered, the sound almost comical coming from someone dressed in such massive and intimidating armor, and Dogamy nodded.  “He’s right, we should go.  We’ve got to get this thing restrained before it wakes up.”  

“Will you be okay?” the guardswoman asked, eyeing Grillby and the child he held with concern.  She trusted him, he knew that, and he did not blame her for being wary about leaving the newly discovered skeleton child behind.  He was worried for them too.

“I think so.”

She nodded, retrieving her battleaxe and swinging the weapon over her shoulder.  A quick series of short, sharp barks had the rest of the squad heading out in the direction of their guardhouse.  “We’ll send someone by tomorrow to check in with you.  And if we find anything about the child’s family, you’ll be the first to know.”

Grillby watched them go, keeping his eyes on Greater Dog and the fallen beast until they turned a corner and were out of sight.  He didn’t know where the creature and the kid had come from or what they were doing in the woods, but for the time being it didn’t matter.  “Everything will be alright,” he told the small child sleeping in his arms, his voice soft and warm as the crackling of a hearth, “You’re safe now.”


	6. Chapter 6

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> We're already at part six, where some things go right, some things go very wrong, and 1-S is the saltiest pound puppy there ever was. 
> 
> Sorry to say it, but no update next week. I'm going out of town starting tomorrow morning and won't be back till next weekend. Yikes. But I'll get back to work as soon as I can!

The Snowdin royal guardhouse, or The Pound as it was so often called, was more than a bit crowded.  The dogs had rushed to get there, hurriedly securing the oh so dreaded muzzle over the bony jaws of their captive before locking it safely behind the bars of their one and only holding cell.  They had sent Greater Dog out on patrol, knowing that at least one of them needed to be on the job of protecting the citizens of Snowdin, but the rest chose to linger in the cramped little building, warily watching the mysterious beast.  

“Are you sure you’re alright love?” Dogaressa asked as she fussed over her wounded mate.

“I’m fine,” he said, patting her paws to help sooth her worries.  Though he moved stiffly, wincing each time he inadvertently pulled at the burn which streaked across his back, he refused to let such an injury slow him down for long.  “I’m sure it looks worse than it is.”

“Well, we’re still taking you to the doctor once we figure all this out, just to be safe.”  There was so much about this situation that confused her and left the de facto leader of the guard dogs unsure of what she should do, but this was something she would not back down on.  The other guards were her friends and her pack, any time one of them was hurt it struck a blow to her very soul and she would not rest until she was certain they were whole and well once more.  The fact that this time it had been her own mate cut down, coming far too close to being taken from her forever, made the whole thing worse.  The memory should have burned in her mind, filling her with anger towards the creature that could have ended her husband’s life, but instead the emotion fizzled away into murky confusion.  She couldn’t blame an animal for trying to protect itself, and if it wasn’t an animal after all, if it was really just some lost, confused monster that they’d frightened so badly it had lashed out, then that seemed even worse.  Were they doing the right thing?  

‘It’s not waking up,’ Lesser dog whined, drawing the couple’s attention back to the holding cell.  

The creature lay still in the simple dog bed that Greater Dog had placed it in when they arrived, its thin limbs stretched out and draping over the edges of the plush bedding.  The bed, accompanied by a simple bowl of water and a dish of dry kibble, was rarely ever used, since the few times they’d needed to use this cell it had been to temporarily detain a monster far too large for it.  The creature, however, would fit quite well with room to spare if only it woke enough to curl up properly.  Dogaressa found herself wishing that it would.  

“You keep some sea tea around, don’t you?” she asked Doggo, glancing back over her shoulder at her team’s newest recruit.  

“Uh, well … “ he muttered, looking away as if guilty of some great crime.  Everyone knew sea tea could help temporarily boost a monster’s speed.  While some viewed it as cheap to rely on such artificial enhancers, Dogaressa and the rest of her unit had no problem with it.  Besides, most of them enjoyed its sweet yet salty taste and hardly noticed the little burst of extra energy it gave them.  She held out a paw expectantly and Doggo shuffled over to his locker, returning quickly and giving her a small, blue, waterproof box bearing the familiar Sea Tea logo.

Tea in hand, Dogaressa unlocked the cell door and stepped inside.  Lesser Dog whimpered in distress, but she waved off their concern with a reassuring smile and a confident bark.  She was more concerned for their captive than for herself at the moment.  The guardswoman unbuckled the muzzle easily, sliding it off of the creature and setting it down beside her.  Though she kept her actions steady and slow, she was still nervous about being this close to something that had proven itself to be so dangerous.  The creature didn’t stir, did not so much as twitch as it was handled, so she carefully set its oddly angular head in her lap.  Only its breathing proved that was still alive, or in fact had ever been alive to begin with.  'No, not just breathing,’ she corrected, 'panting.’  The poor thing was panting as if it couldn’t quite catch its breath.  Dogaressa retrieved the little straw that came packaged with each box of sea tea, grateful for its inclusion even if she herself rarely used them, and poked one end into the container.  The free end was carefully slipped between the creature’s teeth.  

“Do you really think that will work?” Doggo questioned anxiously as he and the rest of the guard dogs hovered near the door, ready to leap to her aid at a moment’s notice.  

“It may not be a monster, but it’s got magic,” Dogaressa said with a confidence she didn’t actually feel.  There was honestly no way of knowing if this would really work, in no small part thanks to the beast’s strange anatomy, but the guardswoman didn’t know what else to try and refused to sit idly by while the poor thing suffered.  She squeezed the little box, careful not to put too much pressure on it too quickly.  A bit of sea tea spilled from the creature’s partially open mouth, trickling between the gaps in its teeth and through the odd split in its lower jaw, but not much.  It moved ever so slightly, body reacting on instinct as it drank, which Dogaressa took as a good sign.  She paused for a few moments then kept going, repeating the process until the box ran dry.  One little sea tea wouldn’t replenish that much health, even for a normal monster, but it was something.  She set the mostly flattened container aside, resting a paw on the creature’s skull.  There was a heat there, subtle yet persistent, that didn’t match the snow-chilled bones of its body.  A spiderweb of small cracks marked where Greater Dog had struck the thing down, splintering across the side of its head.  It had been terrifying out there in the snow, lit up from the inside with blazing power, but now it was hard to believe that such a fragile looking thing had ever frightened them.

“What’s that?” Dogamy asked, shuffling into the cell and leaning over her shoulder.  

She followed his gaze and found something that she hadn’t noticed before; an oddly discolored piece of fabric was wrapped around the bones of the creature’s neck.  Sensitive paw pads traced over the wrappings.  They were hastily done, uneven and tied too tight, and the faintly yellowed material was splotched with fresh stains of deep red and glistening blue.  Had the creature been bleeding?  But then, why were there two different colors marring the cloth?  What kind of damage did these wrappings hide?  “Bandages, I think.”

“But how?  Who put those on it?”

“I don’t know.”  A quick search showed a second bandage wrapped around the beast’s leg, similarly marked with bi-colored stains both old and new.  Something was very wrong here, but the answers they needed remained out of reach.  For the moment, there was just one thing Dogaressa was sure would help.  She slid the muzzle back in place, unwilling to risk the creature using that devastating attack in The Pound should it wake before they returned, and buckled it around the beast’s skull.  After a quick tug to make sure it was secure, she settled the creature back in the dog bed, arranging its limbs until it at least appeared to be comfortable.  “We should get you to the doctor, love, and while we’re there we’ll get some supplies to take care of this poor thing’s injuries.”

Doggo backed away slightly as they exited the cell, making room for her to close and lock the barred door behind her.  “Are you forgetting that it tried to kill us?”

“With magic,” she pointed out once more.  “We may not know what we’re dealing with, but I think it’s pretty clear that this creature needs our help.”

“She’s right,” her mate agreed, leaning slightly against her shoulder. “It’s our job to protect everyone in Snowdin, even if they’re dangerous.  We’ll pick up some proper bandages and ask the doc to come take a look, see if healing magic works on it.  He should check on that poor kid Grillby’s watching too.”

“That’s an excellent plan.”  Dogaressa pressed her nose to her husband’s nuzzling him fondly.  They may not understand just what they’d all gotten themselves into, but they had a plan and would do what they could to help the mysterious creature.  For now, that would have to be enough.

—-

Grillby’s apartment was a warm, homey sort of place.  Though it was rather sparsely furnished, containing only that which he deemed both useful and practical, it had a well worn, lived in feel to it that he appreciated.  Normally he preferred to keep things dim, using his own illumination to light the way and only turning on extra lights when he was doing something which required a bit more focus, like cooking or reading.  Since returning the past evening though, he’d kept his rarely used lamps turned on and filled the rooms with light. After all, the last thing he wanted to do was frighten his new charge should the child wake in darkness.  

After a bit of debate, he’d chosen to place the skeleton child on the plush couch in what passed as his living room.  A small part of him felt guilty for not offering his own bed, but honestly the couch was just as comfortable, perhaps more so, and easier to reach from every other room in the apartment.  The little skeleton’s small form was stretched out over the cushions with room to spare, and he’d brought pillows and blankets in to turn it into a proper bed.  That had been the start of a long, sleepless night spent fretting over the child, keeping a silent vigil and using his own magic to ward away the chills.

As morning light filtered softly through his windows, Grillby stood and went to his storage closet, retrieving a spare blanket he kept for emergencies.  He held the fabric in his hands, letting his own heat seep into its fibers until it was pleasantly warm.  It wouldn’t offer as much warmth as his magic did, but it would be enough.  He carefully draped it over the child, adding it to the others already covering them.  They’d stopped shivering and at last their hands were no longer cold to the touch, but the elemental didn’t like how long the chill had lingered in their bones.  Though they had not woken up on their own just yet, he had at least gotten them conscious enough to swallow a spoonful of medicine a few hours ago.  It wasn’t much, just an over the counter remedy he’d had on hand, but at least it had helped relieve the fever and let the poor thing rest easier.  

Reasonably sure that he could safely leave the child’s side at last, the fire elemental allowed himself a quick trip downstairs to stretch his legs and take care of some important business.  He hung a small, handwritten sign on the door reading 'temporarily closed, sorry for the inconvenience’.  There was no way he could open the bar today.  Though the thought of letting down his regular customers was a terrible one, the child needed him more.  He retrieved a few things from the kitchen, putting ingredients into a large and rarely used pot, and carted the lot back upstairs.  The smaller kitchen upstairs wasn’t nearly as well stocked, nor as well equipped, but he preferred using it when he could.  There was just something personal about it, something private and inviting and uniquely his, that was irreplaceable.  

Quiet sounds of distressed greeted him as he returned to the apartment.  Dropping off the supplies as quickly as he could, Grillby hurried back to the small child he’d been caring for.  They twitched and whimpered in their sleep, weakly fighting against the covers.  

“It’s alright,” he said, trying to sooth them back into a restful sleep, but as soon as his outstretched hand so much as touched their skull, the child bolted awake with a strangled gasp.  They looked around frantically, eye sockets wide, bones clattering as they shook.  Their fear was a powerful, palpable thing.  A high pitched keening sound built up in their throat only to be abruptly cut off as their breathing hitched painfully.  The child doubled over, curling up as much as they could as deep coughs rattled their narrow frame.

“Shh,” the elemental whispered, soft as a candle’s glow, “Calm down, everything’s going to be alright.”  Grillby rubbed the child’s back and they slowly stilled under his touch, the coughing fit easing into shallow gasps.  The little skeleton stared up at him with dark eye sockets.  He had only met a handful of skeleton monsters in his lifetime, most of them long since gone, and it never ceased to amaze him how much emotion they could show despite the relative simplicity of their features.  The child was drawn to his light, gazing up at him with wonder.  

He smiled as gently as he could.  “Hello there.”  The child didn’t respond, but at least the wild panic showed no signs of returning.  Choosing to take this as a step in the right direction, he went on.  “My name is Grillby, and you’re in my home.  It’s safe here, I promise.  No one will hurt you.  The guard found you out in the snow, and they asked me to take care of you until you’re feeling better.”

“ … g-guard … “ the young skeleton repeated.  It was a little boy’s voice, more than likely.

“The dogs of the royal guard.  It’s alright, they’re friends.”

“Friends … “ the boy parroted back to him again.  He seemed to test the word as he spoke it, pondering the sound and feel of it.  

“Yes.  And so am I.”  The oddly slow way the child responded made him worry.  He was disoriented for certain, terribly ill and more than a little confused, but the way he spoke made it seem like the boy didn’t even know half the words he said.  That combined with the tattered rags the child wore, the signs of poorly healed injuries on his skull and hands, and the circumstances he’d been found in painted a dark and bewildering picture.  They needed to find where this lost child had come from.  “What’s your name?”

“N-name … “  The boy lapsed into tense silence, and for a moment or two Grillby wondered if he’d even understood at all.  But then, at last, he looked up.  One hand was clasped over his arm, clutching at it tightly, and he trembled in a way that had nothing to do with the cold.  “2-P.”

That wasn’t a name.  Maybe he really had misunderstood?  No, he didn’t think so, at least not judging by the child’s expression.  Perhaps it was Grillby himself who had misheard?  Not likely, given the tense silence of the room.  So then, what was it?  “That’s … “

“Brother,” the child said abruptly as if he’d only just realized something vitally important.  He glanced around the room anxiously, straining to see every corner of it.  “W-where … where is brother?”

Fear gripped at the elemental, making his flames flicker unsteadily.  “There wasn’t anyone with you.”

“No … NO!”  The child surged up and would have toppled from the couch if Grillby hadn’t been there to catch him.  “Brother!” he screamed as loud as his raspy voice could manage.  

“Please, calm down.”  The fire elemental placed his charge safely on the couch once more, though he kept a tight grip on the struggling child just to be safe.  He couldn’t blame the boy for panicking, he was close to panic himself at the very idea that there might be another child out there, lost and alone in the cold.  “Maybe he left.  He could have gone to find help.”

“No no no,” the boy wailed, thrashing in his grasp.  “Wouldn’t.  Wouldn’t leave.  Together always.  Promised.  Promised!”  He screamed and cried, his protests mixed with strange sounds that the elemental didn’t recognize.  Tears rolled down his face, leaving wet tracks that cut through the layers of dirt on his skull.  

“Easy now, you’re in no shape to be running off on your own.”  Grillby hated to restrain the child, but he feared what might happen if he didn’t.  “We’ll find your brother, alright?  The guard will find him and bring him here.”

The boy didn’t want to listen, but already his struggles were dying off as he used up what little energy he had.  Another fit of coughs seized him, stealing his breath away until he hung limp in the elemental’s arms.  Grillby sat on the couch and gently pulled the child into his lap, wrapping a blanket around him as he did.  He whispered words of comfort and wiped tears from the trembling boy’s face, not even flinching as they hissed and stung at his flames like tiny pinpricks.  As soon as his charge was calm enough to leave for a few moments, he would call the guard and let them know what he had learned.  They would find the missing child.  They would bring him back safely.  He had to believe that, because even imagining the alternative hurt worse than the biting burn of water ever could.  

—-

1-S woke to the distant sound of unfamiliar voices.

“When did he say he’d come by?”

“Tomorrow at the earliest, he’s got patients lined up till then.  He sent some medicine for the kid though, I’ll take it by Grillby’s when we’re done here.”

“I should go, it’s time for my patrol.”

“It’s fine, we can handle this.”

The sound of monsters so close by should have been troubling, at least more so than it actually was, but the boy’s mind was still hazy from a long, unplanned sleep.  As the fog behind his eyes gradually cleared, he became aware of other changes.  The harsh bite of cold wind was gone and he was actually … warm.  It seemed so strange now, after having gown used the constant cold stiffening his joints and making his marrow feel like blocks of ice in his bones.  The numbness that the cold brought with it was gone as well, and in the wake of that thaw he was left aching.  His skull throbbed in time with the faint pulse of his magic, and he didn’t dare move his injured leg.  Not that he particularly wanted to at the moment.  There was something soft beneath him, and though it smelled old and dusty, it didn’t have the strangely sour scent most of their blankets did.  It was … nice.  Or, it would have been nice if not for the feeling of something strapped over his face.  

He tensed when the sound of creaking metal hinges pierced the air.  The voices had trailed off, but the monsters were still there, far too close for comfort.  The boy did best to remain motionless, schooling his breathing until it was so shallow and faint that he didn’t make a single sound.  It was useless to try and hide from them, no doubt they were very aware of just where he was, but perhaps he could trick them into thinking he was still asleep.  Then, when they left, he could free himself and find his brother.  He opened his sockets just the slightest bit but suppressed the natural light of his eyes, letting him peer out at his surroundings in secret.  A tall figure, dark and blurry in the scant bit of vision he allowed himself, knelt nearby.  Broad fingers unbuckled the straps tied around him with surprising care, and the thing was eased away from him.  There was no pain from their touch, no sting of needles, no threat of punishment.  The boy could hardly believe it.  

Then they reached for his neck, pressing against deep scratches that would not heal, and he panicked.  1-S lunged, jaws snapping shut around the monster’s arm with all the speed of a striking serpent.  Shocked yelps in a chorus of unfamiliar voices rang out.  Magic laced the air, heavy and thick as the monsters readied their attacks, and it snatched at his fragile soul.  He growled low in his throat, though the sound that came out of him was broken and raspy.  His fangs sank deeper into the thick material of the monster’s cloak.  He was a hunter, a weapon designed to rend human flesh, it should have been a simple matter to bury his teeth into this would be attacker’s arm until he hit bone.  His jaws trembled, betraying his own hesitance, and he let out another rumbling breath of a growl.  

“It’s alright,” the monster said.  It was a woman’s voice, warm and surprisingly gentle, and when he dared to glance up he saw her looking down at him with something almost sad in her eyes.  She waved her free hand as if to ward the others away, but otherwise remained motionless.  Why wasn’t she resisting?  Why didn’t she fight?

“Doesn’t that hurt?” one of the others asked.  1-S looked in their direction and saw a large weapon in their hands, the metal blade gleaming and deadly.  He trembled even more and struggled to maintain the bite, clamping down with all the strength he could manage, fearful that if he let this monster go there would be nothing remaining between him and that terrible weapon.  

“Not really.”  A paw-like hand settled on the side of his skull, the touch far softer than he could have imagined, and he tensed in surprise.  Warm brown eyes looked down at him without hurt or fear or anger.  It was so strange.  “There’s no need for this.  We won’t hurt you if you don’t hurt us.  If you can understand me, then let me go.”  'Please, let go,’ she added in what he recognized  a version of the language without words.  It touched something in his soul, memories of long nights spent in the comforting presence of his brother stirring in his mind and cutting through the blind fear.  

Slowly, hesitantly, he released her.  There were clean holes punched into the fabric of her sleeve, but nothing more.  Even when he’d been trying to hold her, his bite hadn’t managed to pierce through her fur.  He let himself slump to the ground, skull hitting the floor with a faint thump.  Bones clattered noisily as his whole body shook, overwhelmed by pain and something else he couldn’t quite understand.  He rolled onto his side, half in and half out of the soft thing he’d woken up in, and tilted his head just enough to stare up at the monster who knelt nearby.  

“Ooh, you poor dear.”  She reached for him again and he flinched as her paw settled on his head.  Her touch was warm and soft.  It brought no pain.  He didn’t understand.  She was a monster, wasn’t she?  One of the ones that had been waiting when he’d brought his brother to the warm place.  He should have known better than to go there.  They’d been waiting to capture them, to take them back Doctor, they had even said so.  And now … now he was here alone.  Trapped with the monsters and too weak to fight back.  He wanted out.  He wanted his brother.  He wanted to understand why she whimpered quiet reassurances to him, her soft paws carefully untying the bandage wrapped around his injured vertebrae.  None of this made any sense.

Paw pads brushed against the deep wounds in his neck, sending jolts of pain rocketing down his spine.  He twitched violently, head lifting off the floor only to fall right back down again, and let out a wet gurgle of sound even he could hardly hear.  

“Is that …growling?” one of the other monsters asked.  They had drawn closer.  He wished they would just go away.

“I think that’s as much as it can manage.  Look at this.”  She moved behind him, clearing a path between him and the other monsters.  No, no!  They were going to attack, he just knew it.  He snarled as much as he was able to and tried to wrestle his legs underneath himself, but the gentle paws returned and pressed against him.  One held his head down and the other was at his ribs.  Though they didn’t hurt, they forced him flat against the floor with surprising strength.  It was useless to struggle but he did so all the same, scratching at nothing with flailing legs and whipping his tail through the air.  His display frightened the other monsters and kept them at bay, but unfortunately he couldn’t keep it up for long.  What little energy he had was quickly spent and he lay panting under the iron clad restraint.  Small dark spots swam in his dimmed vision, making it harder to see the other monsters as they approached, but he still recognized them.  The one with the long, bladed weapon was gone, as was the black and white one, but the others loomed over him like rising shadows.  He took a half-hearted swipe at the closest one, if only because he could, but his claws didn’t even come close to them and wouldn’t have had the strength to do damage even if they had.  His tail flicked anxiously, twitching up only to flop back onto the floor.  

'We didn’t do that … did we?’ a nervous dog monster whined.  

“We couldn’t have.”  The woman released him at last, though she hovered over him ready to restrain him again should he try to bolt away.  1-S decided to lie still.  He knew he wouldn’t be able to fight them all off, he hadn’t even been able to break away from one of them, so what was the point in trying?  Whatever it was that they wanted from him, he was powerless to resist.  

The monsters talked amongst themselves, their voices low and soft, and he let the sounds blur together into meaningless chatter.  Normally, 1-S liked listening to people talk.  It was how he’d learned their language, after all, and there was something exciting about picking up new words and learning how they worked.  He loved sharing each new discovery with his brother, giggling to one another between conspiratory whispers as they pieced together the language they had never been intended to learn.  But his brother wasn’t there, and without 2-P, nothing mattered anymore.  

An unexpected touch yanked his wandering mind back to reality and he yelped as something cool and slick was brushed against his wounded neck.  He thrashed as much as he was able, and the woman pulled back from where she’d been leaning over him.  

“I’d like to help you.  This will make you feel a lot better, I promise.”  She reached towards him but froze before she actually managed to touch, letting her paw hover just close enough for him to clearly see and smell her.  Traces of the cold substance on her fingers gave off an almost leafy scent.  'Will you be good?’ she asked without words.  

There was no point in resisting whatever test they had planned, so he laid his head down on the floor in submission once more.  The sting of being touched made him flinch and try to pull away despite himself, but the woman grasped his skull and held him still with surprising care.  She cover his scratches with the cold, slick substance, and it left an odd tingling feeling in its wake.  A long roll of fresh white fabric, soft and cleaner than anything he’d seen since the lab, was wrapped around his neck and tied in place to keep it from slipping.  It was all so puzzlingly different, so oddly pleasant where there should have been agony, that he didn’t even protest as the monster began to unwrap the other bandage tied around his leg.  

“What’s this?” she muttered as she pulled the wrappings away.

One of the other monsters crept closer, casting a dark shadow across the floor.  “Is that … numbers?”

Paw pads brushed against the markings etched deep into his bones.  In an instant he went tense, coiling up tight as a spring, and forced his body upright.  Jaws snapped at the air, barely missing the monster’s hand as she yanked it away, and his teeth clacked together so hard that it hurt.  He fell forward, his snout smacking against the floor, but pushed himself more or less upright as soon as he was able.  He braced himself on his front paws, back legs unable to support his weight.  The lights of his eyes burned bright, tiny pinpricks of light in an all encompassing darkness, and he flared his jaws open with a warning hiss.  

“Please don’t do this.  There’s no need to fight.”  The woman held up her paws in a gesture of peace accompanied by a soothing, high pitched sound, but he knew better than to believe her.  She’d seen his mark.  She knew his numbers now, knew what he was and who he belonged to.  She’d been looking for them, hadn’t she?  And he’d just laid there and let her do it.  How could he have let himself forget that she planned to send him right back to the tall man and the monsters in the white coats?  

He growled and hissed again, snapping at the air when she refused to back away.  She was going to call Doctor and bring him back to the lab and his brother … where was his brother?!  Had they already found 2-P’s numbers?  Had they already sent him back?  Or had they just left him to die?  1-S shook and clicked, the light of his eyes flickering out entirely.  Heat surged in him of its own accord as his magic spun out of control, humming and building with a single purpose; eliminate the threat.  

A large hand encased in metal armor shot through the nearby bars, snatching him by the muzzle before he even realized what was going on.  His jaws were shut tight against his will, clamped in place by the large canine warrior.  He struggled, trying to free himself from their grasp, but he was too weak to put up anything more than token resistance.  Raw magic burned in his throat, trapped behind his teeth, searing him from the inside out.  He reluctantly let it dissipate away.

Another monster swooped in, placing something over his mouth and securing it around him.  Leather straps were pulled tight, too tight, and buckled into place.  The moment they released him, he lurched away, stumbling and dragging himself as far from the monsters as he could.  He huddled in a corner, pressed against the bars, and stared at them with burning eyes.  

“I thought it would listen,” the woman said as she slowly stood.  Even now, she looked at him with such sadness, such pity, that he couldn’t meet her gaze.  It wasn’t real, he knew that now.  He couldn’t let himself trust her again.  

“It’s not a monster, Dogaressa.  It’s … I don’t know what it is.”

'Those numbers,’ the large dog glanced down at him, frowning in something almost like worry, and he stared back until they looked away.  'Do you think it belongs to someone?’

“No one around here, that’s for sure.  Maybe it came from New Home or Hotland.  Either way, we need to report this.”

“You’re right,” the woman said, turning away from him with convincing reluctance.  She led the others out past the bars and sealed him inside.

“I’ll do it, you deserve a break after all this.  Maybe you can you go check in on the kid we found with it.  See if Grillby needs any help with them.”

What were they talking about?  Kid?  Found with?  No one was with him except … 2-P!  The boy staggered upright, head spinning and magic racing.  Did they think his brother was a monster like them?  He tried to run, to rush the barred door they had locked behind them and follow their retreating footsteps, but his legs would not obey and he wound up sprawled across the floor for his troubles.  A heavy door swung shut.  

'wait,’ he tried to bark, hoping they would somehow hear him and understand, 'wait, where is he?’

1-S called as loudly as he could, but the rasping, breathy sounds he made couldn’t hope to fill the empty silence.


	7. Chapter 7

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm back from my trip and working on new chapters again, wohoo! So that means I get to post this one on here. And while I'm rambling to you guys ... thank you so much for the amazing response this little fic has gotten!! Ooh gosh wow~. I need to go through and reply to comments, just haven't gotten the chance yet, and eeeee we're at like 170 kudos, I can't believe it! Thanks so much everyone. 
> 
> Chapter 7. In which desperate actions are taken, events parallel each other, plans fail, and people finally realize that they fucked up bigtime.

Hidden deep in a laboratory on the outskirts of Hotland, an elevator chimed almost cheerfully as it reached its destination.  The young woman didn’t even wait for the door to finish opening before she took off running, her long white coat flapping behind her.  A piece of paper scrawled with hastily written notes was clutched tight in her hands.  Her footsteps drummed out an uneven rhythm, echoing off the metal walls of the lab’s lowest floor.  “Doctor!” she cried as she ran, catching the attention of her target.  

A tall skeleton man turned towards her, unfazed by the younger scientist’s urgency. She wasn’t surprised, very few things ever seemed to upset him. However, she was fairly certain that the news she had to share would do just that.

“Doctor,” the woman said again, panting to catch her breath after the mad sprint that had brought her here.  “Someone’s found one of the weapons.”

The briefest moment of shock flickered in the darkness of the man’s eye sockets. “What?  Let me see.”  He held out his hand expectantly and the young scientist passed the page to him.  She wrung her hands as he read, watching his expression turn grim.  “How did they make it all the way to Snowdin?”

“I’m not sure sir, but the guard have that one contained.”

The man grit his teeth, small pinpricks of light burning in his eyes for a moment or two.  He folded the paper hastily and shoved it in his pocket.  “I’ll be back.”

“Sir!” the woman cried as he turned away from her, already headed for the elevator that would take him up to the facility’s ground level. “Doctor Gaster, wait.  The last time you chased after those things … “

She didn’t finish that thought.  She didn’t have to.  They were still patching up damage from the incident and only just starting to repair the bridge to Waterfall.  They had all been lucky that the creature hadn’t decided to turn its destructive powers on them.  It had fired on one person though, and that person had barely avoided being incinerated.  

“I can’t just leave it in Snowdin with the guard.  It’s a dangerous animal, who knows what kind of damage it could do if not properly contained.”  

The man all but stormed down the hallway, stubbornly ignoring the younger scientist as she pleaded with him to be cautious and think this through.  There was nothing she or anyone else could say that would dissuade him from going to reclaim his runaway experiments himself.

—-

1-S prowled restlessly in the confines of his cell.  The canine monsters came and went, sometimes in small groups and other times alone, but he’d been unable to get their attention in any way that mattered.  Howling or yelling might have done it, even if the sounds came out all wrong and it hurt just to try, but with the mask they’d fastened on him in place he couldn’t even attempt it.  He’d clawed at the thick cage of metal and leather belted over his jaws, trying everything in his power to loosen it, but it had held fast.  With that in place, not only could he not hope to communicate but he also couldn’t use his strongest attack.  Ooh it was possible to charge his magic still, he’d even tested that once until holding in all that heat and power threatened to make him pass out, but it couldn’t be released.  Even if he were able to fire a blast, it would shatter his muzzle, maybe even his entire skull, in the process.  That wasn’t exactly something he was eager to try.  

The creature paced warily.  His long tail lashed behind him, flicking out to strike at the floor and echoing the rhythmic click of his claws.  This prison was well built, secure and solid.  The only weak point he’d been able to find was the door, and even that was beyond his capabilities to destroy with his magic stifled this way.  The boy stalked up to the door and rammed the top of his head against it, striking the bars with a resounding clang that left a ringing in his skull.  It wasn’t the first time he’d done so.  At first he’d raced around the cell, building up speed until he could barrel towards the door at a full gallop and throwing everything he had into each strike.  It had frightened the monsters, who talked in hushed, worried tones as he lay in a dazed heap after each try, but he didn’t care.  By now, with what little energy he had dwindled down to embers, it had become more of a form of protest than an actual escape attempt.  

‘Why do you keep doing that?’ a large monster clad in heavy armor asked with a low whining sound.  Though his language was different from what the boy and his brother used, they were similar enough for him to understand clearly.  He had returned alone some time back and stood guard in the room, watching and waiting for him to try anything.  For the most part, his presence had been easy for 1-S to ignore, but he’d noticed the canine inching closer to his prison.  'Do you really want to escape that badly?  Is it that awful here?’

The boy rammed his head into the bars again, just hard enough to make that loud clanging sound echo through the space.  It seemed like as good an answer as any.

'It’s warm inside, much better than out in the snow.  There’s food and water.  If you’d calm down, we could take that muzzle off of you so you could eat. Wouldn’t you like that?’

1-S growled quietly, which even to him sounded more like the soft scrape of tumbling rocks than a proper growl.  He scratched at the straps again, claws digging into the back of his skull and leaving shallow, stinging scratches in the bone.  Try as he might, he couldn’t work the buckles with his claws.  It clearly wasn’t coming off any time soon.  He whined in frustration.

'Are you … talking?’  The monster inched closer, nearly leaning against the bars, and studied him.  'Are you a dog?  You don’t look like one or sound like one, but you almost do.’  

The creature sat and stared back at the monster guarding him.  Dog?  He knew that word, though he wasn’t entirely sure of its meaning.  His head tilted to the side as he pondered the question.  He didn’t think he was one of those.  That’s what the monsters who’d captured him were, wasn’t it?  And he was very different from them.  

The warrior yipped in excitement.  'Try again.  Say something.  Say, umm,’ his expression brightened, tongue lolling from his smiling mouth for a moment or two as he thought of just the right thing. 'Say hello.’

It was a simple greeting sound, one that was cheerful and warm and that he should have been able to manage even with the mask in place.  Yet when he tried, all the creature managed was a hiss of air.  He tried again and again until the attempts gave way to a coughing fit that that left his throat raw and his chest tight.  

The monster looked down at him with sad eyes, occasionally offering a little whine of sympathy.  The large door behind him creaked open and the guard hopped up, instantly on alert.  His warning growl turned into excited barking when he saw that it was just one of his companions returning.

“We brought kibble,” said a robed figure carrying what looked like a small bucket.  

'Thanks,’ the guard replied with a happy bark, oddly small sounding for such a large dog, and an enthusiastic wag of his fluffy tail.  'How’s the search going?’

The other dog shook his head sadly.  “Not good.  We found some strange scents out there, but nothing we could follow.  No tracks either.  Grillby said the missing kid’s probably a skeleton like the one we found, and you know how faint their scent is.”  

The warrior whimpered softly, putting voice to a sadness that the pair of them seemed to share.  He sniffed at the air for a moment, distracted by a new smell.  'What’s this?’ he asked as he pointed to what the canine had brought.  

“For the creature.  It wouldn’t be safe to take the muzzle off, but we can’t just let it starve.  Hopefully soup will be enough until we can figure out what to do.”  He gestured for the other guard to help him and the two of them approached the cell.  

1-S backed away from the door, watching them warily.  The robed figure pulled a key from his pocket and passed it to the larger dog, who unlocked the door and stood blocking the entrance while his companion stepped inside.  He could smell the food now, what the monsters had called soup, and it made him realize just how hungry he was.  It was strange to think that they were doing all this for him, going out of their way to make sure he was fed, when he was their prisoner.  No doubt they were just waiting to return him to the lab, so why go to all this trouble?  Was it even safe?  Maybe, if he drank it, it would put him to sleep and the next thing he saw would be the tall man’s face.

Safe or not, it didn’t matter.  He wasn’t going to drink the stuff anyway.  This was his chance, maybe the last one he’d ever get, and he had to take it. The boy dashed forward, head low and claws digging in for traction. He used his small stature to his advantage and scrambled between the large canine’s legs, darting out of the cell before either monster had even realized what he was doing.  The space beyond his prison was cramped, especially for sprinting, but he curved his lightweight body and managed to avoid slamming into the wall.  There was only one door, the one he’d seen the monsters come and go through, so he ran full speed towards it.  Normally he would charge his magic into a powerful blast and knock the offending barrier off its hinges, but with his jaws forcibly shut that wasn’t an option.  He lowered his head, turning his body into a living battering ram, and poured on all the speed he could muster.  

He heard confused yelling, the squeak of hinges, and a new voice barking in alarm, but it was too late to stop and he struck not a solid door but the body of a monster.  The two of them tumbled to the ground, a heavy bag falling from the monster’s arms and bursting open to scatter a rain of pellets every which way.  1-S scrambled to his feet, desperate to keep running, but he slipped on the fallen items and couldn’t quite manage to keep his legs under him.  

“Quick, grab him!” the robed guard yelled as he and his companion ran towards the scene.  

The newcomer barked in agreement and threw themselves at the creature, flattening him to the floor.  He writhed in their grasp, claws leaving deep scratches in the floor as he struggled, but he couldn’t manage to free himself.  In no time, the others were upon him, adding their might to restrain him completely.  They barked and growled, but he tuned it out like so much static.  He’d been so close to escape, so close to getting free and tracking down his missing brother.  

Something was wrapped around his neck, pulled just shy of tight, and buckled into place.  Wild fear struck at the boy’s soul.  He yelped as loudly as he could manage and thrashed, flailing madly.  Somehow he managed to wriggle his way free of the monsters and surged to his feet, but something held him back.  He threw all of his weight against it, the new collar pulling at his throat until he couldn’t breathe and bolts of pain raced along the length of his spine, but still it held.  Paws reached out  to grab him, holding him secure by the collarbone, and he was dragged backwards.  Bit by bit, leaving a long trail of desperate claw marks in his wake, the promise of freedom slipped away.

The creature coughed and wheezed as he was hauled back to his prison.  The guards tied him to the back wall of the cell, locking a length of chain to the bars and making sure that the other end was securely fastened to the new collar they had forced on him.  He pulled against the tether, straining and scrambling with all four paws until he was left breathless and dizzy, but it held fast.  All the while, the dogs tried to calm him with empty promises that he knew better than to believe.  They left the soup within his reach, but he ignored it. Trick or not, it didn’t matter now.  

He growled at the dogs as they left, speaking in hushed tones about a missing skeleton and the kid they’d 'rescued’.  They were talking about his brother, they just had to be!  1-S threw himself forward again, the chain clattering as it was pulled taught yet refusing to budge.  He paced angrily, at least as far as this new restraint would allow, each breath a harsh rasp that hardly drew in the air he needed to cool his racing soul.  They had left him with only one option, one he didn’t want to take but knew he had to.  Claws could not undo the buckles on his restraints, but clever skeletal fingers could.  

He’d used up too much of his limited energy trying to escape, but there was nothing else he could do now.  He didn’t want to endanger his brother, but there was no other way.  If the tall man came and saw him, he’d recognize 2-P anyway and reclaim him in an instant.  And since the dogs had seen his numbers, it was only a matter of time till the tall man came to this place.  He had to get free, track his brother down, and warn him before it was too late.  

Backing up enough to let the chain go slack, if only for fear of strangling himself during the process, he laid on the ground and tried to breathe normally.  He could feel the weak yet frantic pulsing of magic in his soul and reached for it, sparking it to life.  The change should have been a simple and painless thing, the very thing he was built for, but fear, sickness, and hunger had worn him down.  Not even the unexpected kindness of his captors could change that.  Black spots swam in his vision, a gray haze fuzzing the edges of what he could see and creeping ever inward, so he shut his eye sockets tight against them.  

Through the creaking snap of bone and the roar of his own magic in his head, the boy heard the faint squeak of hinges and an inquisitive whine. Though his vision was blurred and hazy, he looked towards the sound and saw a canine monster run from the room, yelping and barking out an alarm.  

It didn’t matter, he told himself, only one thing mattered.  He had to do this for his brother.  But as he writhed on the cold stone floor, his senses lost in a black haze, that thought alone could not sustain him.  The dregs of his magic slipped out of his grasp and darkness overcame him.

—-

2-P woke with a start, gasping and struggling against the warm weight that held him down.  Memories and dreams flitted through his mind, already mercifully fading.  The child wrapped thin arms around himself.  He shuddered as he fought back the ghost of pain from torments that had long since ended.  A gentle hand, warm and yielding, settled on his shoulder and he all but jumped in shock.

“It’s alright,” a kind voice said, quiet and crackling faintly.  “Everything’s going to be okay.”  

He looked up, trembling with fear, and saw that the speaker was a tall man made of fire.  His brother had told him about a fire monster in town.  They’d never done anything bad to him, never yelled or chased him away, and it was this monster who, more often than any other, left food out in the containers his sibling had learned to scavenge from.  It was almost enough to set the child at ease … almost.  

“You had a nightmare.”  The man ran a hand along his spine, warm and soothing, and the boy couldn’t help but let himself relax slightly.  “You’re safe now, I promise.  Do you remember me?”

“ … warm … “ There was something so familiar about that warmth, something he knew in the almost hypnotic dance of reds, oranges, and yellows that shifted across the man’s flames.  “Grillby.”

He remembered now. He’d woken up here, in this strange new place, and the man had been there.  He’d been patient and kind, calming him with promises of safety, and the boy had believed him.  He’d had no other choice really, he had been too tired and weak to run.  For so long now he’d been unable to shake that weakness that plagued him, fatigue dragging him down after even the simplest of tasks and making eating what little food he was given a chore.  Each breath had hurt, rattling in his ribs until he thought he might break.  But now, somehow, the worst of it had been chased away.

The child had to admit it, he was feeling better than he had in months, maybe even years.  He was warm and comfortable, nestled in a pile of blankets that had a pleasantly clean scent to them.  The smell of hot food, a type he didn’t recognize but which made him all but ache for it none the less, drifted through the air.  No cold wind bit at him.  No falling snow had settled over him.  His joints were not stiff and frozen in painful positions.  The only thing that was missing was the warm body of his brother nestled beside him.  The child froze, pleasant comfort draining out of him.  There was no second warm body, no rhythmic breathing punctuated by little whimpers or soothing purrs, no subtle tingle of a magic that matched his own resonating unconsciously with his soul.  There was no sign at all of his older brother.  

“Brother.  Where is brother?!” he yelled, fighting his way free of the cocoon of blankets even as the man tried to stop him.

“Easy now.  You had a very high fever.  I was able to give you some medicine and soup, but you might not have been awake enough to remember.  You need to stay put and -”

“No!  Brother!” 'Where are you?!’ the child called with a strained howl that almost sounded like a scream.  He tried to dive to the floor, but Grillby caught him easily.  Cold fear spread through his bones as he realized what he’d just done.   He’d disobeyed a monster.  What had he been thinking?!  2-P knew what happened when you disobey, the tall man had made certain of that.  The child braced himself for an impact that never came.  Instead, the man set him back down on the warm nest of blankets, looking at him with a worried frown.  

“He’s not here. I’m sorry.”  The fire monster reached towards him and the child flinched, but again the strike never came.  Instead, the man retreated, holding his hand close to his chest.  A deeply troubled look passed across his flickering features as the flames that formed his body popped and crackled.  “There are people out there looking who won’t stop till they find your brother, I promise you that.  The best thing you can do is wait here where it’s safe.”

“ … s-safe.” He’d heard the man say it before, but it still didn’t seem real. The town wasn’t safe.  Monsters weren’t safe.  And yet, he hadn’t been hurt.  Even when he’d disobeyed, fighting against the fire monster’s wishes, he’d not been punished.  This man had helped him. Why?

“Yes.  I promise.  No harm will come to you here.”  The man shifted, looking down as if deep in thought.  “I need to ask you something. Alright?  You don’t have to tell me if you don’t think you can, but … I would be grateful if you did.”

The child inched away, pressing against the soft surface he’d woken up on.  He should have known there would be a price to pay for that safety, but maybe it wouldn’t be so bad.  The man had been so kind and warm to him, comforting him when he was afraid and chasing that awful sickness away.  Perhaps he wouldn’t ask for something too painful.  2-P nodded, hunching up his shoulders and curling in on himself.  

“Thank you,” Grillby said with a faint smile.  He moved with deliberate slowness, and the child watched him intently.  This time though, he didn’t shy away as a fiery hand inched towards him.  “What is this?”

Fingers brushed against the collar around his neck, and the child jumped as if he’d been burnt.  His magic raced through him, soul pulsing wildly.  Did the man know?!  No … no, he wouldn’t have asked if he did.  Maybe he could lie?  Make up a story, pretend that he was a normal monster, and stay here forever.  He’d fooled the man so far, he must have. There was no way anyone would treat him with such kindness if they knew what he really was.  He wanted to stay where it was safe and the terrible cold could not enter.  There was good food and soft blankets here.  It was so nice, so tempting, but if he stayed it would be alone.  His brother was out there somewhere, on his own in the unforgiving cold.  The older boy was probably looking for him, and 2-P knew him well enough to know he wouldn’t give up.  Not ever.  So, he couldn’t give up either.  Even if it meant leaving this safe haven, he had to find 1-S.  

The child threw himself to the side, scrambling over the edge of the padded thing he’d been sleeping on and falling to the floor with a clatter. Before the man could realize what he’d done and go after him, he scrambled to his feet.  He wasn’t all that fast, at least not on two legs, but he was small and clever and that would have to be enough. Taking in the space at a glance, the boy made a dash for the door.  

The echo of heavy footsteps approaching made him pause.  “Grillby?” a voice called from somewhere close by.

The child scrambled back, finding himself trapped between the voice at the door and the fire man inching towards him.  Grillby was saying something, the tones soothing and soft, but he blocked it out.  If he let himself get caught, he would be punished.  If he was punished, he might never see his sibling again.  He had to get away somehow, get past these two and out into the open where he could find his brother. But, he couldn’t do it like this.  He needed to be stronger, faster, able to withstand the harsh elements beyond this sanctuary of warmth and light.  The boy called on his magic, stirring his soul to flare bright and powerful within him.  The collar secured around his neck arched with a magic of its own, waves of power suppressing the transformation as bolts of electric magic shocked him.  No matter how hard he’d tried since the escape, 2-P hadn’t been able to fight against that force. It had overwhelmed him time and again, forcing him to abandon the shift and stay as he was.  This time, he couldn’t let it win.  His brother was counting on him!

The boy struggled under the collar’s influence, his body writhing on the floor as his soul flared and pulsed under the strain.  He could dimly hear the sound of the fire monster’s voice, so soft before but now raised and crackling in distress.  His warmth hovered nearby but did not touch, which the child was grateful for.  Bones creaked and groaned, limbs reforming and skull stretching into a more predatory shape.  His short tailbone lengthened and whipped about, striking the floor. Hands and feet became paws tipped with matching sets of wickedly curved bone claws which grasped at the wood below him, scratching and scrambling for purchase.  All the while, the magic infused in that hated collar stabbed at him.  It sought to overpower him, to smother his soul and force him into submission.  

“Grillby?  I hope you don’t mind me letting myself in.  I brought some -”

The door creaked open and the second voice yelped in alarm, but the child didn’t care. His bones shifted, joints clicking into place, and at last the change was complete.  He lay there panting as the agony that had nearly drawn him under slowly faded.  A dark shadow fell over him, and he tilted his head just enough to see the shape of a hooded canine approaching.  

“Dogaressa, wait,” Grillby called, urgency making his quiet voice a bit harsher.  2-P’s view of the new monster was blocked out as the man came to stand between them.  “It’s okay.  It’s them.”

“Them?” the dog asked, her words blurring into a sharp bark.

“The child. They … he changed.”

The woman let out a distressed whine and all but shoved Grillby out of the way.  She stared down at him, brown eyes filling with horror.  'No … ’

The boy managed to get his legs under him and scrambled away.  Though he was still breathless, made slow and clumsy by the lingering soreness in his bones, he was able to take advantage of the confusion his transformation had caused and escape the monsters that towered over him.  He ran from the room and out the open door.  A long set of stairs lay beyond it and he barreled down them, tripping over his own paws half way down and tumbling to the ground.  The boy lay in a tangled heap for a moment or two, but the sound of barking from above drove him on and he picked himself back up.  

The space the child found himself in was unlike anything he’d ever seen.  It was vast, for one thing, almost as big as the examination and testing area in the lab.  But instead of machines and medical equipment, this place had wooden tables and an assortment of chairs.  What looked like a long counter ran close to one wall, a series of chairs with no backs set up in front of it.  Though he didn’t know what it was for, there was something cozy and inviting about the space.  He might have even liked it, had he  not been desperately running for freedom.  

A paw grasped the back of his shirt and hauled him up before the boy could make a mad dash for the door.  He flailed, kicking and clawing at the air, but the strong arms wrapped around his chest would not relent.  'It’s alright,’ the woman said in something that sounded so much like their language that it almost hurt his soul to hear it.  'I’m not going to hurt you.  I only want to help.’  

'Let me go!’ he growled back, and the woman gasped in shock.

The hissing crackle of flame let him know that Grillby was nearby even before he saw the monster’s glow.  “Don’t hurt him,” he pleaded, sounding almost breathless.  

2-P couldn’t believe what he was hearing.  The man knew he wasn’t a monster, he had to know after all this, and still he was trying to protect him. He stopped fighting, going limp in the canine warrior’s arms.  Tears pricked at his eye sockets.  He let out a whining, sorrowful howl, calling for someone he knew would not hear him.  'Brother!’

Grillby’s fire crackled harshly as the two monsters exchanged horrified glances. The arms that held him trembled, but 2-P hardly noticed.  He tilted his head back and howled in sorrow.

'Where are you?!’


	8. Chapter 8

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I should have posted this chapter days ago but got carried away with other projects. Eeeep. S-sorry about that. But at least it's here now, and ooh boy this chapter is an important one. 
> 
> And guys, guys!, ooh my goodness!! We broke 200 for this fic. Aaaaah! I can't believe it, wow~. Thank you so SO much!!

Try as he might, 2-P hadn’t been able to break free from the monster restraining him.  He wriggled and twisted, hoping to catch her off guard and slip free, but she only pressed him tighter against her chest.  1-S was out there somewhere in the unforgiving cold.  His brother wouldn’t have left him alone with the monsters, not willingly.  Nothing they said to him could make him think otherwise.  The older boy had to be searching for him, if he was even well enough to do so.  He couldn’t forget the way his sibling shook from the cold, how his ribs rattled when he breathed, the stain of dark blue shadowing his hollowed eye sockets, and the thick red liquid shot through with glistening blue that had stained his bones.  And here he was, inside where there was warmth and food and someone who promised safety if only he would stay.  It didn’t seem right.  The child let out a string of loud, mournful wails.

“Shh, it’s okay.  Everything’s going to be alright.”  Hands formed from glowing flame pet his skull, evaporating the tears that leaked from his eye sockets and leaving pleasant trails of warmth in their wake.  “Right Dogaressa?”

The canine drew in a long, shaky breath.  “It’s … I, ah, I can understand him.”

The boy let out a little yip of surprise.  She knew what he was saying?  She spoke their secret language?!  He hadn’t thought that was possible.  'Let me go!’ he barked sharply, struggling with renewed energy.  'Have to find him!  Have to save him!’

‘Please calm down,’ she told him with a surprisingly gentle whine before switching back to the language of monsters.  “No one’s going to hurt you, but you need to stop struggling.  Where are you even trying to go?”

'To find brother,’ the child declared with a decisive bark, the glimmering spots of light in his eye sockets trained on the door.  If 1-S wasn’t waiting for him at their nest, a very real possibility he had to admit, then he’d just track his sibling down.  They were hunters, after all, and he’d been trained to track and stalk prey.  While his sibling’s natural scent was faint like his own and difficult to detect, the leaking wounds in his leg carried the sickly sweet wrongness of the Doctor’s needles.  2-P would know that scent anywhere, and he’d find it no matter what.  

The fire monster might not have been able to understand him like this, but his thoughts had clearly strayed in a similar direction.  “The one who was with him.  The creature.  Is it … “  

“Grillby,” the woman interrupted, voice tight with barely restrained dread, “please check his leg for me.  If I’m right, there should be something written there.”

The man nodded, reaching out to restrain his front legs, and the child shrunk back in horror.  He knew what the monsters were looking for, but how did they know?  When had they seen?  He flailed his legs wildly, accidentally scratching the man’s arm with his claws.  The elemental did not bleed, not like some monsters could, but he winced and let out a faint hissing crackle of pain.  Something hot and ashy stained the child’s claws.  2-P froze, eye sockets wide and dark.  He hadn’t meant to actually hurt Grillby.  This man had been good and kind to him, how could he have hurt him?  The boy held his paws as close to his chest as he could and whimpered.  

“It’s alright,” the man said, his voice gentle and soft.  The faintly jagged line of his barely visible mouth curved into a disarming smile, freely offering forgiveness that the boy wasn’t sure if he deserved.  “I won’t hurt you.”  

2-P whimpered in distress as warm hands carefully grasped his paws.  He tried to pull away, jerking against the hold, but was unwilling to do anything that might result in more damage than he’d already caused.  The long sleeves of his dirty, layered clothing were pushed up, revealing pale bones marked with a familiar string of letters and numbers.  The child looked away.  The sequence was stamped into his body and mind, he didn’t need to see it to know what it meant.  

“There’s a series of lines and very small numbers here, and some kind of code too.  It says … WD.G – E2 – 002 – P.”  The child stiffened as the sequence was read aloud.  Even without the tall man’s commanding voice, it had power over him.  He wanted to run, to flee from this terrible reminder of everything he’d been fighting to escape, but he needed to obey.  Noticing his distress, Grillby released his paws and pet his skull, soothing him with the soft sound of crackling flames.

“The … other,” Dogaressa managed, her words choked with emotion.  Was that guilt he heard?  “There were lines and numbers on them too.   WD.G – E2 – 001 – S.”

While the child’s designation made him go tensely still, fighting the ingrained urge to follow orders, his sibling’s had a very different effect on him.  Snippets of memory flashed through his mind, replaying the endless hours of training and testing they’d both endured, and he shuddered at the thought.  Too many times he had heard that designation spoken aloud by a stern, cold voice that promised pain and demanded perfect obedience.  'Brother!  Where is he?’  The boy tilted his head back as far as it could go, glaring up at the monster who held him and growling ferociously.  If she knew his sequence, she must have seen it herself, and there was no way his sibling would let that happen willingly.  'Did you hurt him?’

She shook her head and barked softly.  'No, little one.’  “We tried to help it,” the woman flinched as the word left her mouth and quickly corrected herself.  “Him.  We only … ooh no … ”

“What happened?” Grillby asked, clearly worried by the growing dread in the canine’s eyes.

“The other, S, after we found the code, we reported him missing.”

It was the fire monster’s turn to flinch, the flames that topped his head rippling and popping with angry little sparks.  “I don’t think it’s a good idea to send them back to any person or place who’d make that mark on a child.  It’s not just drawn on, Dogaressa, it’s been carved into him.”  

'B-back?’  The boy let out a low whine of building panic.  'Send back?!  NO!’

He struggled and thrashed, arching his spine to push against his captor, and the shocked monster’s grip finally slipped.  2-P fell to the floor with a thud and quickly pushed himself up only to find his path to freedom once again out of reach.  Grillby stood between him and the door, and Dogaressa was quickly maneuvering herself to further block his one and only means of escape.  The child backed away from them, hissing and clicking wildly.  They weren’t going to send him or his sibling back to the tall man.  He wouldn’t let them!  

Power sparked in his chest, filling him with a wash of subtle heat.  He wanted to stop them.  He needed to attack them!  But could he … kill them?  The boy knew the answer already; no.  He never liked killing, no matter how simple minded and small the prey.  There was no way he could do that to living, breathing, thinking monsters.  The very notion of killing the man who had been so good to him, who’d sat with him as he cried and soothed the pain and sickness away, was too much to take.  But if he did nothing … then the monsters were going to send him and his brother back.  

The child dug his claws into the wooden floor, bracing himself for the backlash, and angled his flared jaws towards the ground.  He wouldn’t hurt them, he couldn’t do that, but he could give them a good scare.  Power rose within him, his magic cycling and feeding back on itself, building up and up in a loop of energy that hummed as it lit up his rib cage.  A different energy blazed to life, darker and heavier than his own, as his collar activated for the second time that day.  Waves of magic surged over him, suppressing the blast he was trying so hard to charge.  It wrapped around his chest, smothering the energy and pressing too tightly on his soul, as bolts of electric yellow power shocked the sensitive bones of his neck.  He spasmed and staggered, losing his footing and falling shoulder first onto the floor.  Shadows fell across his vision as the monsters approached, but the child could do little more than twitch and whimper as he waited for the assault to end.  

The woman knelt beside him, her soft paws petting his head.  Tiny sparks of yellow magic jumped to her, stinging at her hands and making her fur bristle, but she didn’t pull away.  “Easy now little pup.  Everyone’s okay.  We won’t send you back to that awful place.”  She leaned over him, reaching out to touch the black band secured around him, and her touch soaked up the last traces of electric energy.  

“What was that?” Grillby asked from nearby, his presence radiating a warm glow that 2-P couldn’t help but take comfort in.  

“The magic came from this.  It’s not like any collar I’ve ever seen.”  She probed the band with surprising gentleness, tugging on it carefully and relenting when it began to spark.  “There’s no buckle or latch.  Must have been made with magic.  Is there something we can use to get this awful thing off of him?”

“Maybe.  Just give me a moment.”

Grillby hurried away, leaving the child alone with the canine monster.  He whimpered and tried to scoot away from her, body still aching with the effects of the magic that all too easily suppressed his own, but she shushed him with quiet whimpers and pet his spine until he stilled.  The boy couldn’t understand why she was doing this.  Didn’t she know what he was?  Wasn’t she going to send him back?  What possible reason could she have to treat him so nicely?  Perhaps she wanted something from him, but had no idea what that thing might be.  He had nothing of any value to give.  

The fire monster returned quickly, much to his relief.  In his hand, the man held a gleaming silver object with sturdy black handles.  Scissors, and not small ones either.  2-P’s breathing sped up and his thin frame rattled softly as he trembled.  He knew the implement well, knew how large the handles should look and how sharp the gleaming blades had to be to cut through thin, delicate bone, and he wasn’t eager to have them pointed in his direction ever again.  

He whined and tried to dart away, but the woman held him down.  “Everything’s going to be okay,” she said in a low, comforting tone.  She nodded to the elemental, and Grillby pet the struggling boy’s head to distract him while he leaned in closer.  The band was carefully lifted away from his neck and a narrow blade was wedged underneath it, the flat metal cold against his vertebrae.  

The moment those blades began to bite into the thick material of his collar, bolts of yellow energy blazed to life once more.  It lashed out at the child, bright and blazing with familiar pain, and he let out a loud yelp that was echoed by the canine monster holding him down.  He expected her to leave him be, perhaps even backing far enough away for him to get free from her if he could only coordinate his twitching limbs once more, but she didn’t.  Instead she gathered him into her arms, settling his small body in her lap and hugging him with the kind of fierce affection he had only ever known from his sibling.  

“Stop,” she yelped, her own body twitching as the electric magic jumped into her.  “it’s hurting him.”

'N-no,’ the child managed, whining through clenched teeth, 'no, please.  Off.  Please!’  They had cut his collar, had damaged it until it was sparking like his brother’s had, that meant they had the power to remove it.  It didn’t matter that it hurt or that he couldn’t understand why the monsters were doing such a thing, in that moment he saw the flickering promise of true freedom and he intended to take it.  

With an almost hesitant caution, Dogaressa relayed his words to her companion.  Grillby looked grim, as if he wanted to protest going any further, but one look at the gleaming yellow sparks that the collar put out silenced any argument he might have had.  His hands twitched as he struggled to cut through the offending object, the scissors jumping in his grasp and pulling the band tight against 2-P’s neck.  The moments stretched on into eternity, rational thought lost in a haze of sharp, biting pain, until the metal blades clicked together and the collar finally fell away.  

The child laid limp and panting in the canine monster’s grasp.  His mind was fuzzy and sluggish, weighed down as if his skull had been filled with dirt, and his limbs still twitched faintly as the last traces of yellow magic slowly fizzled out and faded.  He gradually became aware of a now familiar touch and pleasant warmth seeping into his aching bones.

“I’m so sorry.  I didn’t know it would do that.”  Traces of pain lingered in the elemental’s voice, though they were all but lost in the deep regret that the child heard there.  “Are you alright?”

2-P whimpered, the sound faint and strained.  He moved as best he could, reaching towards that familiar glow, and Grillby obligingly took him from the woman.  He held the child against his chest and 2-P pressed his head to the monster’s shirt.  He nuzzled into that comforting warmth, curling up in as small a ball as he could in the man’s lap.  'Want brother,’ he whined, 'Where … where?’

Dogaressa stood, still panting from the shock of the yellow magic she’d been struck with.  “We need to get to the Pound.  Can you carry him?”

“I think so, though I’m not sure if he should be going out in the cold so soon.  He’s still sick.”  

“There’s no time.”  The woman took off her long, black cloak and gently wrapped it around 2-P.  The boy snuggled into its warmth.  Her scent was still strange to him, but the weight of the thick material settling over him helped him relax.  It hid him from the world, and hiding was good.  Hiding was safe.  Dogaressa draped the hood of her cloak over his head and ran her paws over his aching spine.  “We reported the incident to the hotland labs.  They said that the royal scientist was on his way to retrieve 'his experiments’.”

Royal scientist.  Doctor.  The tall man.  The child shuddered in Grillby’s arms, stricken with a paralyzing terror, and he wasn’t the only one.  

—-

To say that Dogamy was on edge would be an understatement.  He didn’t have much experience dealing directly with people in positions of authority.  For the most part, he trusted the captain to take care of all that, or Greater Dog and Dogaressa if more immediate action had to be taken.  However, this time, the burden had fallen on him.  Talking with the scientists at the Hotland labs had been an ordeal to put it mildly, with multiple people denying the existence of the creature they had captured, and he’d gotten the distinct impression that at least one of the monsters he’d talked to was trying very hard not to break into panicked screams.  But, in the end, his message had gotten through and they’d given him the news that the royal scientist himself would be there soon to take the creature away.  

It should have been a relief when the man showed up, arriving with the kind of speed that meant he’d dropped absolutely everything and taken the first boat to Snowdin.  This meant the creature was no longer their responsibility.  It would be taken back to where it belonged and no longer pose a threat to the people of their quiet little wintry town.  He should have been happy, but instead, the man’s sudden arrival and brisk, no nonsense manor haunted him like a foul taste in his mouth.  There was something very wrong about all this.

“We’ve been keeping it here sir.”  Dogamy led the scientist to the Pound, unlocking the heavy door of the main guardhouse and holding it open for their high profile visitor.  Lesser Dog and Doggo were right behind him, the younger guards fidgeting nervously in the presence of such a respected and notoriously mysterious individual.  “This is the safest place in all of Snowdin.”

“I trust the creature didn’t give you too much trouble,” the man said as he walked, hands buried in the deep pockets of his coat and eyes fixed forward.  He was an intimidating figure to be sure, long and lean with with a solid stance the sort of imposing presence that made him seem somehow larger than the really was.  

“Um, no sir,” Dogamy replied after a moment.  Perhaps it was best not to mention how the beast had nearly killed him and Lesser Dog when they’d captured it or how close it had really come to escaping their custody.  He didn’t exactly want that news getting back to the king, at least not yet.  “It was hurt bad and very sick when we found it.  We treated its injuries as best we could, that seemed to help for a while.  But … well, it tried to escape and … “

'And it changed!’ Lesser Dog yelped, still a bit panicky over whatever it was that they’d seen.  'Well, sort of.’

The man glanced down at him, his eyes holding little interest or warmth, and the look alone was enough to silence the younger guardsman.  “I’m sorry, I don’t speak dog.”  

Dogamy clasped a hand on the other canine’s shoulder.  “It’s nothing.  We’re actually not sure what happened to the creature.  We came back to check on it and it was … like that.”  His gaze drifted to the small, still body lying on the floor of the cell.  Lesser Dog’s alarm bark had made him come running, as had their cryptic words.  They’d said they saw the creature changing, its bones shifting and warping, but when he’d arrived he saw nothing of the sort.  He’d gone to check on the fallen beast, worried by the lingering heat in its skull and the sharp, shallow breaths that made its ribs rise and fall erratically, but found no evidence of anything unexpected.  It had to have been a trick of the light or perhaps some visual distortion caused by an unknown magic.  Whatever it was that the younger guard had seen, it hadn’t lasted long.  “It didn’t hurt itself too badly, did it?”

The man frowned as he approached the bars, looking over the unresponsive creature.  “You shouldn’t worry.  I made them strong enough to withstand a lot, even this one.”  He looked back at the guards, the corners of his mouth raised slightly in a grin that held no trace of good humor.  “If it were dead, it would have turned to dust.”

“Like a monster,” Dogamy said before he could stop himself.

“I suppose, yes.”

Doggo let out a little whine of alarm.  “Wait, you said 'them’.  There are more of these things!?”

“Currently there are only two; 1-S, who you’ve managed to capture, and 2-P.”

“Why would you make another of those things?  What’s it even for?”

'Doggo,’ the older canine barked in quiet warning.  He rarely chastised the junior guardsman for his enthusiasm and curiosity, but this was neither the time nor the place for such accusatory questions.  Especially not when the royal scientist was involved.

The man frowned at them, a dark shadow seeming to flicker in his eyes.  After a moment or two, he let out a heavy sigh.  “I suppose, since the other is still missing, it might be helpful for you to know why the creatures exist and what they are capable of.  But, this is highly classified information.  If the general public found out about this project, it would cause a panic and all our hard work would be for nothing.  I don’t want to have to put down any more experiments, not when we’re so close.”

'Put down.’  The words settled heavily in the canine monster’s mind, bringing with them a soul deep fear he could not shake.  “We are members of the royal guard, sir.  We wouldn’t dream of compromising something so important.”

“Of course you wouldn’t.”  The scientist stared at him long and hard, and Dogamy tried not to shudder under the oppressive weight of that gaze.  Eventually he looked away, coming to stand by the door to the cell.  He held out a hand expectantly and, after a too long moment of confusion, the guardsman retrieved his key and handed it to him.  Gaster unlocked the door and stepped inside, not bothering to close the barred barrier behind him.  He knelt and began to inspect the unconscious beast.  “This creature is a living weapon designed for one purpose; to hunt and kill humans.  I’m sure that, being royal guards, you are aware of the past incidents with fallen humans in the underground.”

Humans.  The very word brought back a flood of memories that Dogamy wished he could forget.  “Y-yes … yes sir.  We are.  Some of us have helped capture humans in the past.”  

He’d been little more than a pup at the time, still new to the guard and just learning what it meant to protect and serve the citizens of Snowdin.  He was making friends, getting to know the dog who would one day be his beloved mate, and finally finding his place in the world.  And then, the human came.  So much of that day was a blur to him now, fine details lost in the craze and confusion that had gripped their little town, but he remembered the fighting.  He and Dogaressa had been stationed as sentries towards the edge of the forest, and their combined might had done little to slow the human’s progress.  They’d been left alive, but badly wounded.  Mercifully, the rest of the guard had heard their warning howl and arrived in time to save them, managing to restrain the fearsome human.  He’d watched in relief as the guard captain came and took them away, hauling them off to the capital where they would be dealt with by the king of all monsters.  Dogamy didn’t want to see another human as long as he lived.  

The man took a small flashlight from his pocket and lifted his creation’s head, shining the light into the hollow pits of its eye sockets.  “Very good.  I appreciate your hard work with such dangerous opponents.  However, risking monster lives to capture these humans isn’t something the king or I are very keen on.  He tasked me with coming up with a better way, and that’s what I’ve done.”

Putting away the light, the scientist retrieved what looked like a thick strip of leather from his pocket.  He wrapped it around the creature’s neck and pressed a finger to the ends of the band.  Deep blue light flared from his touch and the ends fused together, locking the new collar in place.  The man stood at last, brushing dust from his pants and straightening his coat.  He waved his hand, the gesture subtle and casual, and light glimmered at his fingertips.  Matching yellow magic flared to life along the length of the black band, shocking the creature and making it twitch violently.  The beast let out a soft hiss of sound, low and drawn out like a moan, and dim spots of white light flickered to life in its eye sockets.  

“Subject 1-S,” the man said in a commanding tone, “up.”

The effect of his words was even more immediate than the yellow magic’s shock.  The creature’s eye sockets widened, the lights within shrinking to quivering dots so minuscule that they could barely be seen.  It shook noisily, bones clattering together, and struggled to force itself upright.  Dogamy and the other guards watched in shared sympathy as the creature staggered away from the man, gaze ever trained on his looming figure, retreating further into the cell.  It hissed, alien and threatening, lower jaw fluttering with a subtle clicking sound in the confines of the muzzle.

The scientist frowned at the display.  He snapped his fingers and blue magic flared from the collar, wrapping itself around the creature’s chest in a squeezing grasp that silenced it in an instant.  “I’ll have none of that.  You do as you’re told.”  

The beast struggled, ribs straining against the deep blue power constricting them.  It dropped to the ground, spine arching and back legs scrambling for purchase on the floor as it clawed frantically at the thing causing it such distress.  Trembling claws sought to tear through the band, but the collar that the guard had secured on it was still buckled in place as well and its claws tangled in the layered restraints.  The man snapped his fingers again and sparks jumped from the new collar once more.  The creature jerked and twitched, trying to cry out but sounding for all the world like it was choking.  

“Stop it,” Dogamy shouted.  He couldn’t take this any more!  No living thing deserved to be treated this way, especially not something as intelligent as this creature had proved itself to be.  He’d entered the cage before the thought to do so had even fully formed in his mind, but the scientist shot him a withering glare that stopped him in his tracks.  “I, ah … please, sir, surely there’s no need for that.  It’s just scared.”

“You can’t treat these things like monsters.  They’re willful animals with powerful magic, that makes them dangerous to anything and everything.  I’d thought I had them properly contained and well trained but apparently I was wrong.”  The man considered his creation a moment more, watching the thing writhe on the cell floor as shades of yellow and blue darted in and out of its bones.  Then, with a wave of his hand, the tortuous light show ended.  The creature lay in a smoking heap, gasping for each raspy breath.  “1-S,” he repeated in the same powerful tone, “up.”

Ever so slowly, the creature maneuvered its twitching limbs beneath itself and rose.  It stood there, tail limp and head hanging low, twitching and rattling but otherwise silent.  The lights of its eyes had gone out, leaving only a darkly shadowed emptiness that Dogamy found almost more unsettling than its pained cries had been.  

The royal scientist walked to the back of the cell, circling the shaking creature with long, purposeful strides.  He unlocked the chain from the bars and held it in his own hands, testing it with a tug just strong enough to make the creature’s body sway.  “1-S here is too clever for its own good, but it might still be salvageable.”  

Dogamy watched as the man approached the bound creature, never once showing an ounce of fear.  Though the beast trembled harder the closer he got, it didn’t so much as blink when steady hands unbuckled the muzzle strapped to its skull and eased the device off of it.  He gave it a simple command and it obeyed, walking behind the man like a well behaved pet as he led it from the cell.  The scientist placed the muzzle in the canine’s slack hands.  “Thank you again for your service.  I trust you’ll do all you can to find the other weapon.”

The guardsman ran a paw pad across deep, fresh scratches in the leather straps.  He felt sick.  “We’ll do our best.”

As if sensing his hesitation, the man stopped and stared him down.  “You need to understand, this is a deadly serious situation.  If 2-P is in the area, and I have every reason to believe that it would be, then you have got to find it before someone gets hurt.”

Dogamy swallowed thickly and nodded, fighting back the urge to whimper like a scared pup.  

“1-S, come,” the scientist said, leading the creature away from the stunned guardsman.  

To his surprise, the small, skeletal beast let out a soft whimper.  It pulled against the chain, a token resistance so far removed from its previous struggles that it seemed almost pathetic.  Dogamy’s soul ached in sympathy as the creature looked back at him, white disks of light shining faintly in its eye sockets.  It whimpered again and he could almost make out the meaning of that hushed sound.  

'help.’

“Subject 001 – S.  Come.”

Those softly glowing lights went dark and the creature’s tense shoulders sagged.  It turned its head away, tail dragging the floor behind it, and limped after its master as they set out into the snow.  

The heavy door of the guardhouse swung shut, slamming with a thunderous sound that echoed in the enclosed space.  Long after it faded, a tense silence still hung thick and heavy in the air.  At last it was broken by a plaintive whimper.  Lesser Dog trembled, inching closer to Doggo who still stared slack jawed at the door even though it had gone still and he could not longer properly see it.  

“Alright now,” Dogamy told the shaken canines with a false confidence even he didn’t truly believe, “that’s done.  We did what we had to.  Now let’s get back to work.”

The younger guardsmen exchanged troubled glances, and he couldn’t blame them.  He understood their worries, because the same ones weighed him down as well.  They’d done their job and delivered a dangerous rogue weapon back to its creator, placing it in the care of the one person who would be able to properly contain it until it was ready to be used as first line of defense against the threat of human invasion.  It should have felt like victory, but instead his soul was mired in guilt.  Weapon or not, it had been a living creature.  It had understood them, maybe even more than they’d realized.  And one thing was so blatantly clear that he could never let himself forget it; the creature had been afraid.  

The three dogs jumped in surprise as the guardhouse door was suddenly flung open.  The familiar figure of a woman stood panting in the doorway, sweat soaking her fur and clinging to the simple shirt and pants she wore.  

“Dogaressa?” the guardsman went to his mate’s side, reaching out to grasp her quivering shoulders.  “What happened?”

“Where’s the creature?” she asked between gasps, trying to regain her breath after what must have been a lengthy sprint.  

“The royal scientist came and took it away.”  Dogamy’s expression grew pained, guilt stabbing at his soul.  “There was something strange going on.  He said the creature was a living weapon, that there was another out there somewhere and they were highly dangerous, but,” he shook his head slowly, wanting nothing more than to take his wife into his arms and forget this whole sordid  mess.  If only that were possible.  “Darling, I’m not sure if we did the right thing.”

Dogaressa let out a long, low whine.  She held her head in her paws, shuddering with barely restrained cries of frustration and regret.  Alarmed by the unexpected reaction, Dogamy led his distraught mate into the guardhouse.  He was so focused on her that he didn’t notice the other figure who had been trailing not too far behind her.  Unfortunately, Lesser Dog did.  

'The other weapon!’ the canine yelped, reaching for their sword and falling back into a defensive position.

Grillby stood in the doorway, his flames flickering erratically in bright shades of red and orange.  He held a bundle of familiar black cloth in his arms, Dogaressa’s cloak wrapped snug around a small, thin figure of which only a frighteningly familiar skeletal head could be clearly seen.  It was slightly longer, the curve of its eye sockets and slope of its crested skull a somewhat different shape, but there was no denying that it matched the creature that the royal scientist had taken away.  This was, without a doubt, the missing weapon.  

The thing let out an eerily canine cry of alarm and pressed the top of its head against the elemental’s chest, which proved to be just enough movement for Doggo to see it clearly.  The younger guard retrieved one of his blades and growled.  “Grillby put that thing down, it’s dangerous!”

The fire monster stood his ground, shoulders squared and head held high.  “I will do no such thing.  Please back away, you’re scaring him.”

Dogaressa’s warm paw on his arm drew Dogamy’s attention away from the bizarre display.  She looked at him with heartbreaking guilt, tears threatening to fall from her warm, brown eyes.  “This is the child.  The one we found in the forest.  They were … they are brothers.”

Dogamy shook his head hard enough to make his long ears flop against the side of his head.  “It can’t be them.  I saw that kid.  This is … “

“They can shapeshift.”

His mate’s words were light a lead weight on his chest, cruel and crushing.  Shapeshift?  But the creature hadn’t changed form.  It hadn’t even truly sounded like a dog the way this one seemed to.  But then, it had been sick.  It had been hurt.  And through all of that, it had clearly understood them.  

'I told you!’ Lesser Dog all but howled.  'I told you I saw it start to change.’

“Doctor Gaster didn’t mention that,” Dogamy muttered, a strange, cold numbness spreading over him.

The skeletal creature was instantly alert, head snapping up and eyes darting about the room.  'Doctor?!’ he yelped with something frighteningly similar to the distinctive barks of a young, frightened pup.  'Where?  Where?!’

'It talks!’  The guardsman backed away, tail tucked between their legs.  

Dogaressa gently pushed her mate aside and strode past the frightened canine, going to the creature and placing a careful paw on his head.  “I’m so sorry little one.  We were too late,” her voice shook faintly but she took a steadying breath and went on.  “Doctor Gaster came and took your brother back to Hotland.”

The strange, skeletal child trembled as he stared up at her, the lights of his eyes going dark.  He let out a mournful cry, soft at first but quickly building into a wailing howl.  The boy struggled, wriggling free of the cloak wrapped around him, and jumped to the ground.  Grillby barely managed to step back as the creature leapt past him, sprinting out the door.

“Wait!” the elemental yelled as loud as his muted voice would let him, but the child wouldn’t listen.  He chased after the creature, easily following his grief-stricken cries, and the guard dogs gave chase as well.  

The mysterious child led them down the winding roads of Snowdin, doubling back on his own trail as he ran blindly.  He stopped at last, turning and glancing about in obvious confusion, and pressed his nose to the ground.  Dogamy had a sinking suspicion that he knew what trail the child was hoping to find.  The boy growled as they approached and tried to dart away again, but Lesser Dog and Doggo had crept around behind him and were blocking his escape.  

'Please stop,’ Dogaressa begged with a gentle whine.  “I’m so sorry, but we just can’t let you run off on your own like this.”

'Stay back!’  The child growled, clenched fangs gleaming, and arched his back like a threatened cat.  The image would have been frightening if it wasn’t for the tremors that wracked his small frame.  Weak light glimmered from within his rib cage, dancing like sparks in the darkness.  They all knew what that glittering light meant.

'Do we stop it?’ Lesser Dog asked, hesitant and scared.  

“It’s alright.”  Dogaressa strode forward, seemingly without fear.  She held her open paws out to the small creature.  “You wouldn’t hurt me, would you?”

'I … I will!  I’m a weapon!’  The boy hissed, the meaning of it lost on the canines, but the ferocious look in his eyes was clear enough.

“You’re not a weapon.  You’re a monster, just like us.”

Grillby gasped sharply.  He hadn’t understood the child’s animal like speech, but he understood Dogaressa and what he heard all but broke his heart.  He inched closer to the creature and knelt down on the ground, radiating a warm, inviting glow.  “It doesn’t matter what you can do or where you came from.  You’re a person, not a thing.”

The child whined in distress, shaking his head fiercely.  He hissed again, the light within him shining brighter, but neither Grillby nor Dogaressa so much as flinched.  The threatening glow flickered like a candle in a storm and went out at last, the magic that had gathered up in him dissipating harmlessly, and the boy let out a soft, aching whine.  He inched forward, each step small and cautious, until he had crawled into the elemental’s lap.  Grillby wrapped his arms around the shaking creature, embracing the boy as if he were his own.  

Dogaressa moved to sit beside them, not daring to touch but providing a comforting presence all her own, and Dogamy joined her.  He shrugged off his cloak and, as his mate had done before him, carefully draped it around the sobbing child.

“We’re going to get him back,” the woman said softly.  A different sort of fire burned in her, the desire to fix her past mistakes filling her with resolve.  She would protect this child, find the sibling they had lost, and one way or another she would make the one who’d hurt them pay.  “I promise, we won’t fail you again.”


	9. Chapter 9

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> It's time for part 1 of the big rescue! Both parts were going to be in the same chapter but it was getting really long that way so I split it. Hope you all enjoy this part!
> 
> PS - I have something to show you guys with the next chapter and it's aaaaawesome!!!

Snow drifted through the air, dusting the quiet little down in an eternal blanket of white.  Bit by bit it filled in the tracks that the scientist and his creation made, erasing the skeletal paw prints left behind by the small creature’s awkward, limping gait.  Soon enough the trail would be lost, blended into the overlapping chaos of prints made by monsters of every shape and size as they went about their daily lives, and no one would know which way they’d gone or even that they had walked this street at all.  

1-S glanced behind him, his gaze drifting over the maze of buildings.  Somewhere in there, amidst the warm, cheery lights that glowed from distant windows, was his brother.  Even though he worried for the younger child, ever fearful that the monsters might discover the truth, he wished he was there too.  The tall man gave the chain he held a subtle yet firm tug and the boy turned away, letting his head hang low as he dragged his paws through the snow.  

The man paused at the edge of town and 1-S stopped walking as well, sitting in the snow two paces behind his master just as he was meant to.  His breath steamed the air with short, sharp pants brought on more by fear than fatigue.  The chain rattled as the new collar tugged at him, guiding him to look up into the man’s dark eyes.

“Find 2-P.”

The lights in his eye sockets shrank away, eclipsed by a shadow that wasn’t entirely physical.  The creature bit back a whimper, somehow managing to keep still and silent.  Disobeying orders was dangerous and every fiber of his being begged him to comply if only to spare himself the pain that refusal would bring, but this was one task he simply could not do.  

Snow crunched beneath the man’s feet as he shifted his weight.  “I know you understand me.  You understand quite a lot, don’t you?  More than I’d assumed.”  

1-S did whimper that time, unable to fully contain his distress.  The tall man knew.  There would be no more hiding, no more planning, no more whispered secrets.  Any hopes he might have held of escaping evaporated into despair.  

“Well then, I wonder if you’ll understand this.”  The scientist leaned down, his intense gaze baring down on the creature that shuddered in his shadow.  “If you leave 2-P out here, they will die.  If I send you out to hunt humans alone, you will die.  That’s not a threat, it’s simple fact.  Now,” the man stood straight again, staring down at his own creation like a looming statue.  The end of the chain was still held tightly in his hand.  “001 - S, find 002 - P.”

The boy rose to his feet, his body moving to comply with the order before his mind even fully processed it.  He couldn’t fight this, wouldn’t dare disobey, at least not without his brother.  His brother … who the tall man commanded him to find and return to the life they both would rather die than endure.  He shook his head in hopes of clearing his conflicted thoughts, masking the movement with a faltering step.  There had to be another way.

‘Clever’ the scientist had called him as if it was some awful thing.  And it was.  He’d heard the word before, mentioned in passing as the other scientists chatted with one another.  It was a monster word, meant only for their kind and not his.  Experiments weren’t meant to be clever.  He’d been designed to be intelligent, to follow orders and outsmart prey, not to be clever.  He was never meant to question, to be creative, to bend the rules until they broke and find his own way of doing things.  But 1-S was clever, despite their best efforts to stamp such thinking out of him, and he was going to use it.  

Pressing his snout to the ground, the creature began hunting for the scent trail.  Only, he wasn’t looking for the familiar smell of bone and warm magic that would lead him to his sibling.  That trail was doubtless long gone, if it had ever been in this part of town to begin with.  Instead, he hunted for one very similar to it; his own.  He subtly guided them towards the woods, a place he’d been many times, and from there it was easy to catch on to the trail.  Magic and bone tainted by the corruption of the sickly sweet substance the tall man had infused into him.  1-S gave the alert bark he’d been trained to use, or at least he tried, and set off.  

The trail led them along a winding path, weaving between trees as they wandered deeper into the woods.  The boy knew it well, but he stuck to the trail none the less.  He had to make the tall man believe that it was 2-P’s tracks he was following and not his own.  At last the shelter came into view on the horizon, and the boy let out a harsh whispered version of a howl.  He dashed forward, limping and stumbling as he ran, and ducked below the makeshift wall of branches.  The chain was taught, thick collar pulling painfully against his neck, but he ignored it.  There was work to be done.

It felt strange to be back in their nest, and stranger still to be in it alone.  His little brother had always been waiting for him here, ready to greet him with a weary yet genuine smile.  But now, he was gone.  The monsters had taken him away.  The boy hoped that his guess was correct and that the younger child was somewhere safe.  He hoped his sibling would be able to pass himself off as a monster, at least until he was well enough to defend himself should the truth come out.  More than anything, he just wanted 2-P to be safe and healthy and happy.  If the tall man made him search the city and found him, that could never come true.  He had to act quickly.  Already the tall man was getting closer, the constant pull at his neck easing as the chain slowly went slack.  He had precious little time to carry out his plan, and it needed to be convincing.  His sibling’s freedom, maybe even his life, depended on it.  

Snow had blown in to the little shelter, settling over the blankets in uneven piles.  Good.  1-S scraped the flat sides of his claws along the inner walls of their nest, grinding bone against thick, sturdy wood.  A rain of fine, grainy shavings and pale bone dust drifted over the snow, settling on top of the freezing surface.  He blew on the lighter particles to spread them out and added more until they covered the mound, making it look like the entire thing was comprised of the dusty mixture.  The boy snatched up the nearest article of clothing from the nest, a torn, stained shirt that he himself had worn, and flung it over part of the pile to complete the illusion.

He laid down, half curled around the dusty mound, and tucked his nose under the edge of the shirt.  The boy inhaled the scent of wood shavings and dust, his bones shaking from the cold.  It was easy to summon the tears needed to complete the illusion.  He let them sting at his eye socket and spill over, painting faintly glistening trails over his dirt smudged skull, telltale signs of false mourning brought on by genuine sorrow.  If this worked, he would never see his little brother again.  

Shuffling branches and crunching snow alerted him to the tall man’s presence at the entrance to the makeshift shelter.  The creature didn’t so much as look at his master as the man tossed their carefully constructed canopy aside and knelt to look into the shadowed space.  He hummed softly to himself, reaching a hand in to touch the frozen pile that the boy had coiled around.  His fingers came back dusty.  The boy’s tail twitched, unable to remain still as his magic raced through him with barely concealed fear.  He watched out of the corner of his darkened eyes as the man inspected the forged remains.

“What a waste,” he said at last, standing and taking the end of the chain in his hands once more.  “1-S, come.”

Bittersweet relief flooded through the creature.  He went willingly, letting his master lead him away from the small shelter he and his brother had built.  His soul ached to leave the place that had once been so comforting to them both, even more so knowing the sterile lab and empty room that awaited him, but he did not fight the collar’s insistent pull.  If that was the price to spare his brother, he would accept it gladly.

They retraced their steps back to the edge of town, following the half-filled prints they’d left behind, but from there the tall man veered away from the glow of civilization and led them around the outermost buildings in a wide arc.  The sound of rushing water let the child know where they were headed long before the river came into view.  A small clearing waited up ahead, occupied by a figure in a long, white coat.  The shorter scientist, a young and impulsive monster with thick, brown fur that the child remembered well, was untroubled by the constant cold of Snowdin.  They paced anxiously, circling a large, metal box with a hinged door and a set of sturdy, padded handles.  They looked up as the tall man approached, alerted to his presence by the constant rattle of the chain that tethered the small creature to him, and their face lit up with a wide, fanged grin.  

“You really found it!  I can’t believe it.”

The tall man let out a mirthless chuckle.  “Thank the royal guard for that, they had it locked up and muzzled.  Good thing too, who knows how many monsters it could have killed if something set it off.”

“Where’s the other one?” they asked, eagerly opening the door of the large metal box.  1-S stopped walking, trying to dig his claws into the snow and keep as far away from the container as possible, but the man yanked him forward again and he had no choice but to stagger closer to it.  

“Dead, most likely.”  He described the little shelter that the brothers had built, the mound of torn, stained clothing, and the pile of dust and snow.  The creature’s soul puled faster inside him as he listened, hoping that the story he’d managed to spin was a convincing one.  

“It could have been some other creature’s dust,” the other scientist offered.

“True, though I doubt 2-P will survive long in that environment either way.  The guard are on the lookout for it, and if they don’t find it soon we’ll have to write the subject off as deceased.  001 – S,” he commanded, pulling on the chain and pointing towards the box, “In.”  

The child shook, his instincts fighting against the ingrained need to obey, but walked forward none the less.  His claws clicked against the smooth surface, the sound echoing in the small chamber that was just barely big enough to contain him.  He crouched, knowing that if he stood straight he would only hit his head on the thick metal ceiling, tail tucked meekly between his shaking legs.  The door swung shut behind him and a latch clicked into place.  

“I thought they were supposed to be stronger than that,” the smaller monster said as they fiddled with the latch.  The child recognized the sound of a lock being secured.  

“Together, yes.  Alone?”  The man sighed softly, the sort of sound he often made while shaking his head over a stubborn problem that refused to adhere to any simple solutions.  “I’ve trained them to function as a unit first and individuals second.  Where one is weak, the other is strong.  Although, 2-P might have been fine if we’d managed to perfect the DT procedure before they got loose.”

1-S shuddered.  He managed to turn around in the cramped space, bones scraping painfully against the sides of his new prison, and lay down with his legs tucked up underneath his body.  A small slit in the door let in just enough air and light, and he looked out of it only to see the younger scientist glancing in at him.  The monster studied him with curious eyes, a look he’d seen all too often and learned to dread.

“So what do we do with this one?”

“We try again.  If that fails, and if 2-P really is gone, then it might be time to move on to group three.”

Water sloshed nearby, the normal current of the river interrupted by the arrival of something new.  A distant voice let out a muted yet cheerful 'tra la la’, signaling the arrival of what must have been some sort of floating transportation.  The tall man went to talk with the new person, but the other scientist stayed behind.  

“We were so close,” they lamented, their gaze drifting from the river back to the creature securely locked in the metal box, “but you just had to ruin things, didn’t you?”

The man returned, giving his assistant a simple order, and the two of them vanished from view.  The box was lifted, rocking 1-S back and forth though the boy did not voice his displeasure at the somewhat nauseating sensation, and moved onto a new surface that dipped and bobbed beneath him.  The monsters spoke to one another in low tones he couldn’t quite make out, and he became aware of the sensation of movement once more as they left the sleepy little town of Snowdin far behind.  

—-

The young boy called 2-P was staying with Grillby in the small apartment above his bar.  There had been no discussion or debate, but somehow the decision had been made just the same.  The fire elemental was one of the very few people that the child felt comfortable being around, and so far he’d been the only one that the boy was willing to go to on his own.  Besides, no matter how badly the dogs wanted to help make amends for their mistakes, they were hard at work trying to get permission from the king to launch a full investigation into the royal scientist’s secret projects.  They didn’t have the time to give 2-P the care and attention he needed.  So the bar sat empty, a small sign warning patrons that it would be closed for a few days while the owner attended to personal matters, and Grillby looked after the boy as best he could.  

His apartment didn’t have that much space, to be honest, but what he did have he was more than willing to share.  The guard had helped him turn his office into a bedroom for the mysterious child now in his care.  The desk now sat in his own rather cluttered bedroom, the bookshelf in the living room just behind the sofa, and the small set of cabinets had been cleared out and left more or less where it was.  Greater dog had made a special trip out of town, though none of the dogs told him where he’d gone, and returned with a matching pair of twin sized beds.  They were a bit old and dingy, as most things were in the underground, but the elemental was fairly certain that the boys wouldn’t mind.  

The fire monster hadn’t asked how long the children would be staying with him.  He hadn’t questioned what would become of them, if they would go to a proper foster home once they were able to, or anything of the sort.  He had taken it all in stride, asking the dogs to bring the other boy here once he’d been rescued in a tone of voice that made it abundantly clear that he would accept nothing less.  An unnecessary gesture, given how adamant Dogaressa was about reuniting the two children, but one he’d felt compelled to make just the same.  He shouldered his own share of blame for this mess, after all, and giving both brothers a safe place to recover from their ordeal was the least he could do.  

Grillby sighed to himself as he spread a soft, worn blanket over one of the beds, trying to distract himself from his own guilt for the time being.  2-P was watching him warily, curled up in the corner as if he were a lone mouse on alert for dangerous predators.  Sharp claws picked at the long sleeves of a shirt which hung too loose on his narrow frame.  The elemental hadn’t asked where the clothing came from either, he’d just been grateful when Lesser Dog showed up at his door with a box of hand me downs and castoffs that looked like they might fit the two children.  Grillby had thanked them and given the tired looking guardsman a large bag of kibble and thermos of hot cocoa to take with them and share with the other dogs.  He knew the guards were running themselves ragged trying to not only work on the pending investigation but also carry out their daily tasks and keep Snowdin safe.  It was a lot to ask of anyone.  

Tucking the blanket in place, Grillby sat on the edge of the bed and patted its soft surface with his hand.  “Would you like to come sit with me?” he asked the boy still staring at him with thinly veiled curiosity.  “It’s much more comfortable than the floor.”

The child stalked towards him, crouched so low that his ribs nearly scraped the floor.  His long tail twitched behind him.  He sniffed at the edge of the blanket, giving it a tentative nudge, and rose up on his hind legs to poke the plush surface of the mattress with one claw.  When it didn’t suddenly spring up and attack, he at last felt safe enough to change form.  Grillby watched in fascination as the boy’s skull changed, muzzle and crest shrinking into the flatter, more rounded features of a small skeleton child.  His lanky limbs clicked and popped as his joints adjusted to allow for an entirely different range of movement, and in no time the boy was standing at the edge of the bed with his hands pressed against it.  

With one last curious look that begged for permission which had already been freely given, 2-P crawled up onto the bed.  He mimicked the fire elemental’s posture at first, though soon enough the springy surface had won him over and he couldn’t help but smile a little as he rocked and bounced, testing it out as if he’d never encountered something so entertaining in all his life.  

“This is yours now,” the man said, his soft voice gentle as a candle’s glow, “this bed and this room, for as long as you want.”

Dark eye sockets stared up at him, the faintest hints of light glimmering in their depths.  The child frowned in confusion.  He glanced around the space, taking it all in as if for the first time even though he’d been there most of the day.  More than once he began to speak only to have the words taper off into quiet sounds far beyond the elemental’s understanding.  Finally, he pointed towards the other bed which sat close by, the sheets and blankets that would soon adorn it still stacked neatly.  “That yours?”

“No, mine is in a different room just down the hall.  That bed is for your brother.”

The boy’s eyes flashed with little sparks of colorful light.  He stared at the empty bed intently as his thoughts raced and his magic hummed, but all too soon his excitement gave way to familiar despair.  The child clenched his hands into small, tight fists, clutching the blanket beneath him, and grit his teeth against the distressed whines and whimpers that threatened to overtake him.  Glimmering tears streaked down his pale face.  It was clear that he wanted to believe that the bed really would belong to his brother one day, that they would be together again, safe and happy, like Grillby and the guard had promised.  However, a pessimism born from circumstances the likes of which the elemental shuddered to imagine wouldn’t allow it.  

Grillby’s flames hissed and popped with nervous energy.  He reached out to the crying child only to pull away a moment later.  He wanted to comfort the boy, to wrap him up in a warm hug and chase away the dark thoughts that plagued him, but he’d learned very quickly that 2-P wasn’t like normal kids.  He needed security and comfort like any other child, that much was true, but he also had a more animal side to his nature that didn’t appreciate being startled or restrained.  Finally he settled on a compromise, moving slowly and placing a hand on the boy’s shaking shoulder.  2-P jumped at the unexpected contact and for a moment Grillby thought he would pull away.  It certainly wouldn’t have been the first time.  But instead, he slowly relented and even leaned ever so slightly into the touch.  

“I know you miss him and I know you’re scared, but you will see him again.  The guard are doing all they can to stop the man who took him from hurting anyone ever again.  They’re not going to give up until they bring your brother safely back here, I promise you that.”

2-P let out a soft, broken sound of mourning.  He leaned closer to his new guardian and pressed his head against the elemental’s collar, nuzzling into the warm, soft fabric of his shirt.  Tears began to soak into the material, but Grillby ignored the faint sting that accompanied them.  He pet the child’s spine and held him as close as he dared, radiating warmth and protection.  

This boy was a dangerous experiment, that’s what the dogs had told him.  A living weapon meant to hunt, subdue, and even kill the most powerful enemy monster kind has ever known.  The barcode and number sequence branded onto his arm was proof of that, as was the matching, faded mark along his shoulder blade, long since worn down and stretched thin as the child grew, that the elemental had discovered when he’d managed to convince 2-P to take a proper bath.  Grillby had even seen the kind of power both children possessed first hand and knew how devastating their attacks could be even when the boys themselves were ill.  And yet, he couldn’t find it in him to see the boy shaking and crying in his arms as anything more than a child, lost and innocent and hurting in a way no one should ever have to endure.  He brushed his thumb against the little skeleton’s cheeks, evaporating his tears even as more continued to fall, and whispered promises of love and safety long after the boy drifted off to sleep.  

—-

Short, blunt claws clicked across the floor as a young woman made her way into the lower floors of the lab.  She didn’t like going down here.  This was a hidden place, locked away behind thick, metal doors and protected by codes known only to those who worked with the royal scientist himself, and she’d just been granted access a few months ago.  The others said she’d get used to it in time, but the monster wasn’t sure if they really meant it or if they were just humoring her.  Long, humming bulbs fixed to the ceiling washed the space in bright, colorless light which gleamed off sterile metal and pale, tile floors.  Sound echoed in the space, the steady beeping of machines and constant drip of fluid seeming far louder than they should.  

“Doctor Gaster?” she called as quietly as she could, wincing at the sound of her own voice.  

The man in question was seated in an uncomfortable looking rolling chair, perched between a pair of complicated devices which beeped and whirred in a steady, mechanized rhythm.  He was bent low over a small, skeletal figure, stretched out and strapped down to a metal surgical table.  The woman hadn’t worked with the creature herself, but she recognized the doctor’s experiment from what her colleagues had told her.  It was almost hard for her to believe that all the recent chaos had been caused by something so small.  The doctor was examining a series of long, deep scratches in his creation’s neck, wiping away the fluids that leaked from them with a stained handkerchief.  

“Sir?” the woman tried again, hoping to catch his attention.  

“I’m busy,” Gaster said as he prodded one of the deeper gouges with the end of a long, thick needle, “a fact which should have been apparent to you.”

The young scientist cringed.  “Sorry sir, it’s just that there’s people here asking to see you.”

The doctor didn’t so much as pause in his examination.  He deposited a metal tool onto the small cart beside him, avoiding the myriad of tubes and wires connected to the small figure with the practiced ease of someone who’d been doing this sort of thing so long that it had become second nature.  “We don’t allow civilians in this complex for their own safety, you know that.  Send them away.”

“It’s, umm, not civilians sir.  It’s the royal guard.”  The woman’s voice trembled unsteadily for a moment, and she wished she’d been able to talk anyone else into delivering this news.  “They say the king sent them.”

The scientist went ridged.   The small creature let out a faint, raspy moan as the needle pushed too deep into its bones, and the sound quickly shook the man free of his stupor.  Gaster studied the mark again, adjusting the position of the needle, and slowly began extracting a mix of magic and marrow from the wound.  Even the younger monster could tell that the marrow looked off, made sickly and strange by an infection that her boss had been trying to cure since retrieving the creature.  Dark, familiar red swirled though the mixture slowly filling the glass tube.

“Asgore never sends anyone directly.  You must have misunderstood.”

“N-no sir, I don’t think so, it’s … “

The creature on the table yelped in distress, or at least it seemed like that’s what it was attempting to do, and struggled against the restraints.  Gaster held it down and carefully extracted the needle, then retrieved a smaller syringe loaded with a clear sedative compound that the younger scientist recognized.  He worked with smooth, enviable efficiency, not a single moment or movement wasted.  

“Well out with it then,” he said casually as he checked the numbers being monitored and recorded by the beeping device.

“They’re with the former leader of the guard, captain Gerson.”

The doctor froze in place, one hand stilled mid motion as he checked one of the wires connected to his experiment.  The room was plunged into relative silence once more, until the beeping of the monitor, the dripping liquid, and the creature’s faint, harsh breathing became too oppressive for the woman to endure a moment longer.

“Sir?”

Gaster held up his free hand to silence her before she could even think of what to say.  At last, he slowly turned his head towards her.  The doctor was well known for his cold, passive stare, but now the woman thought she could see a nervous flicker in his dark eyes.  

“I’ll be right there.”

Eager to extract herself from the situation, the young scientist nodded and turned away.  She hurried from the lab, her claws tapping out an uneven staccato rhythm that echoed behind her, leaving the doctor, his experiment, and the oppressive aroma of Determination behind.


	10. Chapter 10

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So, guess what I learned ... do not agree to take part in a week long online scavenger hunt if you have other stuff to do and need to get fic chapters done. Sorry this took so long!!! I was wrapping up Lost and Found too and that chapter took a lot more than I'd thought it would (and was a lot longer, wow).
> 
> So, umm, apologies aside, I've got to show you all something so cool!! You have GOT to go see the awesome art that Comicpapyrus drew for this fic! :D It's over [here](http://comicpapyrusofzelda.deviantart.com/art/Guardian-First-sketch-610479477) (they also have a bunch more really nice art).

The Hotland lab was a deceptively simple looking building. It rose two stories high, fairly tall for a structure in this part of the underground, but the real story was what lay just out of view. The lower floors of the facility tunneled deep into the rocks, surrounded by the kind of protection only thick stone could bring. An entire level could explode or go up in flames and the rest of the world might never even notice. It was here that the royal scientist and his team worked to better monster kind. At least, that’s what everyone was told. 

Dogamy bit back an anxious whine as he glanced around the lab’s sparse interior. His paws itched to grasp the familiar weight of the battleaxe strapped to his back. Somewhere in that fortress of a building was the mysterious, shapeshifting child he’d lost. Though Dogaressa tried to convince him that they all shared the blame, he couldn’t help but hold himself personally responsible. He’d been the highest ranking guardsman at The Pound when W. D. Gaster had made his appearance, and as such had been acting leader. He should have seen that something was up, should have trusted his instincts and done his best to regain custody of the creature that had been in their care, but instead he’d let the doctor have his way and the child known as 1-S had paid the price. 

“Thank you for doing this sir,” he said to the monster beside him, grateful to not be facing this task alone. Dogamy had grown up listening to stories about the bravery and skill of captain Gerson, the bravest and best leader that the royal guard ever had, and had even gone to see the former guardsman at his shop a fair number of times. However, he’d never imagined that he would wind up on a mission with the man himself. 

“Easy there soldier,” the old turtle chuckled as he spoke, his mouth curved into an easygoing smile. “I’m retired, remember? No need for all that ‘sir’ nonsense.”

“Sorry sir. I mean, Gerson. I guess I’m just a bit on edge.” Or more than a bit, if he was being honest. This wasn’t the biggest task he’d ever taken on as a member of the royal guard and it was far from the most dangerous, but to him the stakes felt just as high as if the lives of his packmates were on the line. “I’m glad the king sent you.” 

He was not only grateful for king Asgore’s foresight, but also that Gerson had agreed to come along in the first place. The man was, as he’d said, retired from the guard and had no reason to bother with such matters any more. After all he’d done for monster kind during the war and in the troubled early days of their exile, he deserved to be left in peace. And yet, here he was, standing in the lobby of the largest laboratory facility in the underground, his war hammer tied to his scuffed, chipped shell. 

“It’s not that he doesn’t trust you dogs, ya’ know he does. He just thought you could use some backup this time and, well, when Undyne told me where she was going and why I just couldn’t stay away.”

Dogamy recognized the name of the young woman waiting anxiously with his wife. She was clearly a new recruit, probably around the same age as Doggo. Her armor was somewhat big on her and polished to a mirror shine, clearly treasured and well taken care of though it already sported a few battle scratches. She clenched and unclenched her fists at her sides, little sparks of blue-green magic fizzling between her scaled fingers, sharp teeth grit in an almost manic grin. 

“Isn’t she a bit … young for this mission?”

“Not that much younger than yourself pup,” the turtle said with a crackling chuckle. Then again, the entire royal guard was young compared to Gerson. “She’s got the right stuff. Been trained by some a’ the best, if I do say so myself.”

“But why choose her? You’re not anticipating anything dangerous, are you?”

Shrewd yellow eyes glanced up at him, the man’s casual seeming slouch betrayed by the seriousness in his gaze. “Because that girl doesn’t care if you’re the royal scientist or king Asgore himself, she won’t let nothin’ stop her from proving herself and doing what she knows is right.”

'Not like me,’ the canine couldn’t help but think, 'I just let it happen.’ He’d known something was wrong, had seen it in the scientist’s cold stare and heard it in the creature-child’s broken voice, yet he’d done nothing. He’d trusted the man because he thought he should, because he was the 'royal scientist’ and surely that had to count for something. Because he was afraid of what would happen if it didn’t. Guilt settled like a heavy, all too familiar weight in his soul. “I should never have let him take that kid in the first place.”

“Aah don’t be so hard on yourself,” Gerson said, patting Dogamy’s back with a force that nearly sent the guardsman sprawling to the ground, “you didn’t know what he was really up to. None of us did.” Something harsh and bitter had crept into his voice, subtle yet very much present to those with keen ears. 

At last, the sound of approaching footsteps rang through the halls. A door was pushed open by a short, skittish looking scientist and W. D. Gaster stepped into the room. He stood tall, silhouetted in the doorway like a shadow that had taken on solid form, head held high and confident as ever. The man had been imposing when he’d shown up at the guardhouse, but now he was in his element and it was clear that he was master of his domain.

“I’ve been informed that you wanted to see me.”

Gerson nodded to Dogaressa and the guardswoman stepped forward. She bristled with fearsome energy, barely able to keep herself from growling at the man standing in front of her. “Doctor W. D. Gaster, you stand accused of unethical experimentation on minors.”

“Really now?” the man questioned in response. He seemed calm on the outside, but Dogamy could all but smell the nervous tension in him. “I assure you, I’ve done no such thing.”

“We know you took a child from Snowdin under false pretenses and brought him here.”

The doctor sighed and shrugged, hands clasped behind his back. “I haven’t done that either. I reclaimed my property and nothing more, a fact I’m sure your fellow guardsman here must have told you.”

Dogamy struggled to contain a growl of his own. He knew his mistakes, they’d haunted him day and night since the truth of the mysterious children came to light, the last thing he needed was the person behind all this rubbing his nose in it. “We weren’t aware of the details at the time. A weapon or animal is one thing, but we have reason to believe that you were lying about those facts.”

“So, you have proof then?” Gaster asked, his tone cool and even. They couldn’t do much without proof, and he knew it. What he didn’t know was just how much time and effort the dogs had put into this investigation already. They had one shot at this, and they’d been determined to get it right.

“We have reasonable suspicion, and king Asgore has deemed that enough to mount a full investigation.” Dogaressa retrieved a carefully folded letter from the pocket of her robe and handed it to the man. His faint grin fell into a rather pronounced grimace as he read the words printed there by the king himself. The guardswoman held her head high, tail wagging in triumph. “You will take us to the child, release him into our custody, and hand over any and all information relevant to subjects WD.G – E2 – 001 – S, WD.G – E2 – 002 – P, and all related experiments. Should you fail to comply or resist in any way, you will be arrested and taken to the capital. Have I made myself clear?”

“Abundantly.” The man folded the paper with deceptive calm, sliding it into the pocket of his own coat. “I’m certain you’ll find that nothing I’ve done here is illegal, but if it will make this unpleasantness go away and let me return to my work, then I suppose you can come with me. Do try not to touch anything.”

Gaster led them down a series of hallways, past the nervous stares and worried faces of employees left whispering in their wake. They piled into an elevator, none of them willing to let their fellow guards or the doctor out of their sights even if it meant feeling somewhat squished the entire way down, and exited on the lowest floor of the complex. The long hallway was flooded with bright florescent light, tile floors gleaming beneath their feet. Gaster took them to a brightly lit room near the end of the hall, the sterile space crowded with assorted medical equipment. And at its center, lying flat on a metal surgical table, was the child they’d come to find. 

The creature was positioned awkwardly, limbs pulled aside and strapped down in a way much more suited to a two legged frame. His ribs had been broken, cut apart with surgical precision and pried open like a trap door to allow better access to the magical core housed within. Wires and tubes snaked into the opened cavity, some piercing the glowing blue core of the skeleton’s magic and the pale white soul inside it while others skewered his spine like sickening inverted quills. A similar batch of tubing disappeared into the small creature’s skull, having been inserted into an eye socket held open with metal clamps. A pair of large, noisy machines sent shimmering fluid pumping through the tubes, carting hues of bright blue and deep, dark red in and out of the patient. A smaller set of tubing was hooked up to plastic bags, sending a clear, seemingly innocent liquid into the child’s prone body via large needles piercing deeply into bone. His muzzle was held shut by a strip of thick, white fabric that wrapped around it, leaving only the end free, and covered by a clear mask which fogged in time with his shallow, rapid breaths. 

Dogamy felt ill. He’d seen injured monsters before, even visited fallen colleagues confined to beds in New Home Hospital, but he’d never seen anything quite like this. Nothing about this even suggested healing. Mere days ago, this creature had been awake and aware, bright eyes saying more than his ruined voice ever could. Now he looked half-dead. Dogaressa gasped sharply, breaking away from their little pack and hurrying past the doctor.

“You shouldn’t touch that,” Gaster warned as her paws hovered dangerously close to the needles piercing the small figure. “The treatment’s nearly finished but disturbing the process without proper procedure might be too much for it.”

Though Dogaressa snarled under her breath at him, she still obeyed. Her paws clenched into fists at her sides, short claws digging in to her flesh. If she hadn’t feared hurting the boy they’d come to rescue, Dogamy was sure she would have ripped him free of those hateful devices right then and there. 

“This is the kid?” Undyne asked, inching close and craning her neck to get a better view. Though her tone was even and controlled, there was a wary gleam in her single visible eye that made her nervousness clear. Dogamy couldn’t blame her. The creature was rather frightening at first glance, all sharp bone and jagged angles, and the ghastly display before them made the skeletal figure appear even more otherworldly. 

“They shapeshift,” he said, his tone subdued and oddly hollow. It was all he could manage to get out past the sinking dread gripping him tight. 

“A useful function for procedures such as this, if it weren’t for the recent unpleasantness.” Gaster strode up to the table, looking down at his creation with the sort of calm detachment one might show a malfunctioning appliance. “It hasn’t been safe to disarm the subject’s collar and allow it to change form, so we had to improvise for the procedure.” 

“And just what is this procedure of yours?” Dogaressa all but spat, unwilling to leave the child’s side but more than distressed at being so close to the doctor.

The man glanced at her, unfazed by her obvious hatred. “I could explain, but you wouldn’t understand. Even some of the professionals I work with can’t comprehend the true nature of Determination.” 

The canine woman growled softly, hackles raised as she cursed the doctor’s arrogance in the dogs’ secret language. Luckily, Gerson interrupted before she could say something they might all regret. His hand shot out with surprising speed and grasped the doctor’s coat. “You put Determination into that kid?” 

“I must ask you to please release me.” Gaster tried to brush the smaller monster aside, but his ironclad grip could not be shaken. 

“Nothin’ doin’,” the old turtle said, the casual words he chose at odds with his deadly serious tone. He glared up at the tall man, yellow eyes steely. That word meant something to him, that much was clear, and it wasn’t good. “You of all people should know how dangerous that stuff is.”

“Dangerous, yes, but can you think of any other way to match the humans’ strength? There are potentially deadly risks involved, but that’s why we don’t use it on monsters.”

Dogaressa had heard enough. She let out a vicious snarl, teeth bared and gleaming in the cold, colorless light. The doctor backed away, hands raised as if to pacify the enraged canine, but she didn’t give him the chance to speak. She retrieved her battleaxe from its sheath, wielding the heavy weapon with an ease born of years worth of training, and lunged. Dogamy barely made it to her in time. He wrapped both arms around her and held her back. They were an even match most of the time, perfectly balanced and able to all but dance around one another on the battlefield, but now he found himself struggling to restrain his wife’s fearsome strength. And honestly, he wasn’t even sure he wanted to. 

His view was suddenly obscured by blue scales and shining metal as Undyne intervened. The young woman stood between them, coiled tight as a spring and ready to fight. A glowing teal spear of pure magic had manifested in her hands. It gave off angry little sparks as she looked from the dogs to the doctor, shifting her weight as if she wasn’t sure which one posed the greater threat. Tension hung thick in the stale air. The droning, monotonous beeping that had been steadily falling into the background of their thoughts sped up, taking on a rapid tempo that reflected the rising panic of the restrained creature. 

“Dogaressa, please,” Dogamy begged, hoping to calm his mate before she did something she couldn’t take back. 

“No!” she roared, pointing a clawed finger at the trembling figure strapped to the table. “That’s a child!” Her magic burned, the very air around her shimmering in a pale haze powered by righteous fury. “He should pay for what he’s done and if you won’t do it then I will.”

Gerson nudged Undyne aside with a hand at her elbow, stepping in to take her place. “Now you calm down, he’s gonna get what’s commin’ to him but we’ve gotta do this right.”

“You’re confused, I understand that.” The doctor straightened his coat, seemingly unconcerned about the snarling monster straining to attack him. It was a pretty good act. Dogamy might just have believed it had it not been for the subtle smell of fear. “If you’ve seen its other form then it’s only natural you might come to think of the subject as a monster, but it’s not one. This series was made with raw magic, biological material catalyst, and fragments of living soul. Enough to give them life, intelligence, and magic, but not the complex thoughts and emotions of monsters. They’re sophisticated animals, that’s all.”

Gerson glanced back at him with narrowed eyes. “A fragment, huh?” 

The small creature on the table twitched as he approached, limbs pulling against the restraints as his thin frame rattled faintly. His soul flared as much as it was able to inside the broken cage of his ribs, pulsing around the tubes with a soft, white light. He tried and failed to pull away from what he clearly perceived as a new threat, the monitors hooked up to his core beeping faster in response to his distress.

“Looks like a whole soul to me,” the old turtle said, his voice hushed. He reached out a hand as if to pat the trembling creature on the head but thought better of it and retreated from the table instead.

Gaster shifted his weight, his controlled facade momentarily slipping. “I’ll admit that was an unexpected development. The previous series never regenerated complete souls from their donor fragments.”

“Previous series?!” Dogaressa let out a series of angry barks the likes of which Dogamy was glad no one else could translate. However, he made no move to silence her. He’d thought they were dealing with a simple, if terrible, case. Two children, one free and the other in desperate need of rescue, altered and changed into something dangerous by a man who should have been trustworthy. Now everything was so much more complicated. They’d been made, not changed, and they weren’t even the first. The canine bared his own teeth in a threatening growl. 

“Easy now,” Gerson said again, holding up a hand to silence their protests. Every trace of good humor had drained out of him. “Where are they then?”

“Gone. The E1 series proved to be unstable. Their bodies couldn’t support their magic. Only one of the five lived longer than a few months. We recycled what we could of them into the E2 project and disposed of the remaining dust.” The man tilted his head slightly, his mouth curved into a ghost of a mocking grin. “We have full documentation of the project, if you need it.”

Every word of his little speech had filled the dogs with sickening dread. It seeped into their souls, fueling their anger until Dogamy thought he might just chip a tooth from how tightly his jaws were clenched. And as it turns out, they weren’t alone. There was a blur of blue, silver, and red as Undyne spun around and let out an enraged scream. Her fist connected with Gaster’s jaw, sending the doctor staggering back a step or two. Sparks of light danced around her like angry fireflies as she stalked towards him again, only to find her path quickly blocked by Gerson. 

“Undyne, stand down,” he commanded with the sharp, authoritative tone of a true captain.

“He deserved it!” the young woman yelled, her voice cracking. 

“Not sayin’ he didn’t, but that’s enough for now.” The old turtle stared her down until she relented with a wordless cry of frustration. Then he turned to Gaster, undaunted by either the man’s status or his height. “You’re gonna surrender that poor kid to us and then you’re going to jail.”

“Under whose authority?” the doctor asked, rubbing at his jaw. Little scuffs and magic induced scorches marred his pale face. The crack that streaked down below his eye looked a little wider than it had before. 

“The royal guard and king Asgore’s authority, that’s whose,” Undyne said. She let out a dry, haughty laugh that would have sounded cruel had it not been directed at such a heartless man. “You really think the king’ll let you get away with this?”

“I’ve done nothing wrong here.” Gaster said the words with such complete certainty that, for just a moment, Dogamy had to wonder if, in the most technical of meanings, he was right. “He asked for weapons that could take down invading humans and protect monster kind. That’s what I’ve given him.”

“You’ve tortured children!” Dogaressa cried, her rage underscored with soul deep sorrow. 

“No, I created artificial life in order to spare countless monster lives.” The doctor gestured towards the small form of his creation. “The soul fragments and half of the biological material used to make the E2 series came from me. I created them, I own them, and they are legally mine to do with as I see fit.”

“Not anymore.” Gaster’s persuasive words and resolute confidence might sway his workers and even cast doubts in Dogamy’s mind, but Undyne and Gerson were unmoved. The old turtle held his head high, projecting an aura of authority. “Doctor W. D. Gaster, as emissary and acting proxy of king Asgore I hereby place you under arrest pending a full investigation for unethical practices and child abuse. Now you’re gonna stop what you’re doing to that poor kid and then we’re gonna take a little trip to see the king.” 

Gaster blinked in disbelief. He tried to say something, but the words died out before they were even fully formed. He shook his head with a mirthless smile. Even after all this, it was clear that the doctor believed himself to be in the right. He shot the dogs an unreadable look as he strode past them, coming to stand over his creation once more. “You should step back.”

“No,” Dogaressa growled with a steely tone.

Gaster gave a noncommittal shrug and shook his head again as he started turning off the various devices in the room. Slowly, the plastic tubes turned clear as what little magic essence and Determination was left in them emptied into the small creature. The child’s spine arched as thin hands reached into his chest and wrapped around his core, holding the fluttering soul still as it was separated from the strange devices. Raspy gasps of pain underscored the slick, wet sound of it, and Dogamy cringed in sympathy. Large needles were removed one by one, magic and marrow seeping from the holes they left behind. 

The guardsman looked away when Gaster began working on his subject’s skull, digging into his eye socket with long fingers and the telltale flare of his own magic. The sound alone was torture, scraping bone and choked cries embedding themselves in his memory. He pressed himself closer to his mate’s side, feeling her tremble against him. Dogaressa growled softly as the scraping was replaced by the creaking and snapping of brittle bone. Dogamy gathered his courage, fighting back a wave of nausea, and looked back in time to see the man tie a bandage tight around the small creature’s newly realigned rib cage. 

“And these?” he asked, nodding to the small, clear bags filled with pale fluid that hung suspended near the table. The thin tubes running from them hadn’t been touched, long needles still connecting them to the small skeleton’s limbs taped securely in place. 

“If you want the subject to survive, you’ll leave those alone. Those compounds are what’s been keeping it stable.”

The dogs exchanged worried glances. They had no choice but to believe the doctor and let the medicine run its course, though neither of them were happy about it. 

“The restraints then,” Dogaressa all but demanded.

“I wouldn’t recommend removing them.” The four guards stared him down, their magic charging the air, and the man let out a weary sigh. “Fine. If you won’t see reason, we’ll try it your way.”

Dogamy would never admit it, but Gaster might have had a point with that one. As soon as the thick leather straps came off, the skeletal creature sprang into action. He flailed and twisted, doing his best to fling himself from the table. The dogs raced to hold him down. The child managed to free his front legs from Dogaressa’s grip, ineffectually attacking her arms for a moment before he turned on himself and raked his claws across his skull. The guardswoman quickly grasped his wrists in her own paws and pinned them to the table. Surprised by the lack of damage from such desperate actions, Dogamy looked a bit closer and found that each one of his once sharp claws had been cut, filed down until they were so short that raw magic seeped from the flattened stumps. The child let out a wet, choked sound. Blue magic blended with something slick and red leaking from the deep punctures along his spine. 

“I told you it was a bad idea,” Gaster said with a smugness so infuriating that Dogamy wished he could punch that grin off his face.

“Think you can heal him?” Gerson asked the recruit at his side.

For the first time since he’d met her, Undyne looked truly nervous. She fidgeted with the strap of her eyepatch, gritting her teeth and glancing down at the ground. “I dunno. I’m not really good at that.”

“Better than the rest of us. Couldn’t hurt to try it.”

The old turtle gave her a reassuring pat on the back, and that seemed to do the trick as her confident, sharp toothed grin quickly returned. She edged her way around the collection of medical equipment, weaving a path to the other side of the table so that the dogs could keep holding the skeletal creature still. A thin, scaled hand was held over his twitching, broken body. Undyne closed her visible eye and took slow, even breaths. Green magic shimmered into view, tendrils of it coiling around her outstretched hand. The energy should have sunk easily into the small creature’s bones, but instead it skittered away like droplets of water and dissipated into the air. 

“I can’t get through,” she said at last as she let the green light fade. “Some of this is just too old to fix with magic, but the rest is … strange. Like it’s infected, only it’s not.”

Healing magic could be disrupted by all kinds of things, like foreign objects in the body or contaminants in the blood. Even illness could make it harder for green magic to work like it was meant to, and only the strongest healers knew how to get around its influence. But this was no natural illness. This was the doctor’s work. 

Gerson frowned, grinding his teeth. “Any chance you can undo this?” he asked, jerking a thumb in the child’s direction. 

Gaster all but laughed at the suggestion. “Even if I thought such a foolish action was worth my time, no. At this stage it’s irreversible.” 

“I was afraid of that.” The former captain grasped the doctor’s arm and twisted it behind his back, using it to propel him towards the door. He’d had enough of this. “Undyne, help me cart this scum off to the capital.”

“Yes sir!” chirped the young woman, eagerly falling in step behind her mentor. A glimmering spear manifested in her hands, the tip pointed towards Gaster’s back. 

“Wait!” both dogs cried at once, practically howling together. Dogamy fell silent, letting his mate continue the thought that had struck them both. “The collar. Take it off him.”

Gaster glanced over his shoulder at them. There was no mocking superiority in his eyes now, nor was there any hint of remorse. “I’m afraid I can’t. It’s a safety precaution to keep the weapon from attacking innocent monsters. After what happened the last time, I had to make sure this one couldn’t be removed so easily.”

“Then deactivate it,” Dogamy countered, trying not to let his desperation show. 

“I can’t do that either, at least not for more than half an hour at the most.”

“What do you think we are? Stupid?” Undyne let out a sharp, humorless laugh. She edged her weapon a bit closer and eager sparks leapt from its sharp tip. “No way someone like you’d use something you couldn’t control. So turn the thing off already.”

The doctor twitched faintly, wincing at the subtle sting of her magic. “I can deactivate some of its functions, but not all.”

Undyne grinned at Gerson who nodded back. Pride glimmered in his eyes. “That’ll do for now then. Make it happen.”

Letting out a resigned sigh, Gaster made a series of complex gestures with his free hand. Magic light shimmered in the air, forming strange shapes that chased his movements. A sheen of deep blue hovered over the collar strapped to the child’s neck. It rose up like steam, misting the air with magic. The doctor snapped his fingers, and matching bolts of yellow flashed into view for the briefest of moments. The guards couldn’t be sure exactly how much of the collar’s functions had been disabled and for how long, but at least it was something. 

Gerson seemed satisfied as well. He glanced back at the dogs and the small creature they restrained. “Can I trust you two to get this kid somewhere safe?”

“We promised to take him to Snowdin,” Dogaressa said, her eyes shadowed by regret. “Back to his brother.”

“Sounds good enough for me.” The former captain nodded to Undyne again, and the young woman prodded their captive with her spear. 

“Get going,” she commanded. 

The trio awkwardly made their way into the elevator and vanished from view, leaving the dogs alone with the child they’d come to find. The space was eerily quiet without the steady beeping of the monitors or the haughty voice of the doctor. White light cast long shadows along the polished floor, making everything appear more ominous and threatening than it should have. Dogamy didn’t want to stay there a moment longer, and thankfully he wasn’t the only one. Dogaressa cautiously released her grip, pulling back to avoid having her arms raked by blunt claws. She slid her cloak off her shoulders and draped the thick fabric over the struggling creature. Dogamy carefully let go as well when it enveloped the small figure, ready and waiting to grab him again at a moment’s notice. The boy struggled weakly, unable to free himself. Fabric shuffled as his limbs twitched beneath it. A high, keening whine, so much like a puppy’s distress cry, ghosted from his throat. 

With a soft, reassuring call of her own, Dogaressa carefully scooped the little bundle of bones into her arms. “I’m sorry,” she whispered between whimpers, “I’m so, so sorry.”

If the child heard her, he didn’t understand. Only the thick, white fabric still tied tight around his jaws kept him from biting, though Dogamy doubted he was even capable of doing any real damage at the moment. One faintly glowing eye struggled to focus on them. The other remained empty, twitching faintly as he tried and failed to close it.

Dogamy reached over to lay a gentle paw on the child’s skull, his heart breaking a little more as the creature flinched in fear. “Your brother misses you, little one. We’re going to take you to him.”

Perhaps it was nothing but wishful thinking, but he thought he saw recognition flash in that dimly glowing eye. Dogamy wrapped an arm around his mate’s shoulders and walked beside her as she carried the skeletal child from the room. They had a long journey ahead of them.


	11. Chapter 11

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Whispers in the Dark chapter 11. In which a name is given, Paps is a tiny fierce, and what we’ve all been waiting for finally happens. 
> 
> There’s just one more after this everyone! This storyline will wrap up in part 12, but … well I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t really wanting to explore a few other possibilities. And not just other fluffy oneshots either. So there's going to be another one after this that I'm already planning and working on. (I'm also more than likely going to do a companion oneshot to this fic ... a pov for 1-S during the previous chapter. Because I thought I was the only one interested in that but somebody on tumblr said they'd like to read it too and, well, that's all the permission I need to write awful awful angst!)
> 
> WOW thanks so much to everyone who left a comment or kudos on this!! I will never get over how amazing that is~. I know I'm horridly behind with answering comments (been really busy irl) but I'll do my best to get to those soon.

Time felt like it was standing still in the small apartment above Grillby’s bar.  Dogaressa and Dogamy had left for Hotland early that morning, finally having earned the king’s permission to shut down the royal scientist’s projects if they discovered anything questionable.  The bartender was almost certain that what they would discover would prove to be far worse than that.  

In the short time since taking in the skeletal child called 2-P, he’d learned a few things.  The boy didn’t like loud sounds or sudden contact.  He startled easily and could react to such surprises with violence if he felt threatened or cornered.  He shied away from bright light and open space, choosing instead to stay where there was a semblance of cover for him to hide behind.  He would freeze up any time he felt he’d done wrong, expecting punishment to come swift and severe.  And above all, 2-P was alert.  He watched everything with the wary gaze of an animal unsure if they were predator or prey.  Grillby did his best to show the child that he didn’t have to be either anymore, but it was a long, slow process.  

Making a space that the boy felt comfortable in had gone a long way towards those ends.  So had offerings of food, though those came with their own complications.  It was all too clear that the brothers hadn’t had enough to eat out there in the woods.  Starvation had left 2-P weak and brittle.  So it was only natural that he all but attacked any meal he was offered, yet the boy always stopped himself before he was done.  He didn’t seem to believe Grillby when the elemental told him that he didn’t have to save anything for the next day.  The concept that food would always be provided to him, that he could even ask for more if he wanted it, was just too much for him to take in.  He still hid some away, sneaking scraps into the pockets of his clothing and stashing them under the bed when he thought the elemental couldn’t see.  Sometimes he would marvel at a new texture or flavor, forgetting to be cautious for just a little while and letting himself act like the child he truly was.  And sometimes, his thoughts would stray and he would stare down at his plate in silence, overcome by a flood of sadness that he could not contain.  Times like that, he would prowl the apartment as if searching for the sibling he knew he would not find.  

2-P had been in such awful shape when he’d first been found.  Only, he hadn’t truly been found.  Grillby had examined the event in his mind a hundred times since then, and he knew that the appearance of both creature and child behind his bar that night had been no act of coincidence.  1-S had delivered his brother to this place, sick and starving to the point where he was on the verge of falling down and never getting back up again.  He’d cried into the dark with that terrible, shattered howl, calling for help from any who would hear.  From him.  

“You need a name,” he told the child as he washed dishes in the kitchen sink, his arms wrapped in sturdy gloves that went up past the elbow.  He didn’t have to look to know that the boy was watching him.  He could practically feel that intense stare following his movements.

“2-P,” came the measured response, pronunciation precise in the way only something one has been forced to memorize and repeat countless times ever is.  

“No, I mean … “  'A proper name,’ the elemental thought, though he stopped himself from actually saying the words out loud.  He didn’t want to make this poor child think he was wrong for referring to himself with the only designation he’d ever known.  “A new name.”

“Why?” the boy asked.  He inched closer, accompanied by the sound of skeletal feet tapping lightly against the floor.

“Because you’re starting a new life.”  He didn’t quite know what to call the noise he heard in reply, nor did he know the true meaning behind it, but he could hear enough confusion in that shrill little sound to get a general idea of what it meant.  Grillby set the dish he’d been scrubbing on the drying rack and shut off the water.  He knelt, waiting patiently as the boy skittered back in fear and remaining still until 2-P once again mustered up enough courage to approach.  He looked the child in the eye, radiating a comforting warmth.  “You never have to be an experiment or a weapon ever again.  You and your brother can still call each other 2-P and 1-S if you want, but - “

“No,” the boy said sharply before he could continue.  There was no heat behind his words, only an insistent need to be understood.  “We don’t say that.”

“What do you call each other then?”

“Brother.”  

Grillby waited for the child to continue, but he didn’t.  Apparently, that was all there was.  It made sense in a way.  These children had only had each other all this time, their tiny world comprised of the doctor, his assistants, and themselves.  What need did they have for real names in that kind of life?  Grillby tried not to let the sadness that gripped his soul show.  

“Well, I certainly can’t call you that, and I’d hate to call you something that reminds you of things you’d rather not think about.”

The boy let out a little whine, the sound undeniably canine despite the fact that he was currently in his two legged form.  Though words were hard for him to manage when he wasn’t in this shape and the clicking hisses that were his threat warning required a split jaw, most of the other sounds he used to communicate came easily regardless of his appearance.  It had been a bit jarring at first, but the elemental was growing used to hearing barks, yips, and trills from his new charge.  

“I knew a few skeletons once.”  There weren’t many around any longer, but many years ago they had been more common.  Grillby thought back through the skeletons he’d met and the families they’d talked about.  Skeleton monsters could be rather finicky about their names.  From what he understood, choosing the right name had a lot to do with one’s voice, and it wasn’t uncommon for skeleton parents to refer to their children by nicknames until they were old enough to start babbling.  2-P’s voice, in the few times he’d been brave enough to speak his mind, had proved to be expressive and very distinct.  He may have been soft spoken and even reserved, but that seemed to be due to nervousness rather than nature.  As he slowly became more relaxed in his new surroundings, the elemental caught glimpses of a kind, friendly, and optimistic personality struggling to emerge from the lifetime of torment that had buried it.  The child deserved a name that reflected that potential.  “Once I met a man named Papyrus.  He said it was a good, traditional skeleton name.  Do you like it?”

The boy thought for a moment, his hands coming together as nervous fingers tapped out a discordant rhythm.  “But … is his name.”  

“I don’t think he’d mind if you wanted it to be yours too.  He sounded a bit like you do, only louder.”

The man in question had been a boisterous individual, prone to long winded stories told with breathless excitement.  Grillby hadn’t known him long, but had enjoyed his friendly nature and cheerful optimism.  He’d had a certain way about him, an inflection to his tone that made everything he said seem grand and glorious, and sometimes the elemental could hear a hint of that same quality in 2-P.  Besides, he had a sneaking suspicion that the child might take more willingly to a name that began with the letter he was already accustomed to.

“Papyrus,” the boy said, testing out the word.  The syllables rolled easily along the natural trill and timbre of his voice.  His skeletal grin softened into something more genuine.  “I like it.”

“Then it’s yours.”

Grillby half expected the child to protest the ease of such a decision, but happiness let him put caution aside at least for the time being.  “Can brother have a name too?”

The elemental’s soul clenched with something both hurt and hopeful.  “Would you like to choose one for him?” he asked, knowing that he’d never choose the right name on his own.  He didn’t know what the other kid’s voice was like.  Actually, given the damage he’d seen and the awful, broken way the child had howled, he wasn’t sure if the other skeleton had much of a voice left.  

The boy now called Papyrus hummed to himself, head tilting to the side as he thought.  “No,” he said at last.  “He choose.”

Grillby chuckled faintly.  He was about to correct the child’s improvised grammar when there was a sudden knock at the door.  Papyrus vanished in a flash, darting away almost too fast to be seen.  Grillby knew just where to look though, and quickly found him huddling behind the couch.  That had become one of his ‘safe zones’ where he could hide from anything causing him distress.  The list of things he hid from was very long indeed, and towards the top of that list was 'visitors’.  It wasn’t as if the fire monster ever had that much in the way of company, but the Snowdin royal guard had all passed through his home at one point or another over the past few days.  Papyrus wasn’t exactly comfortable with the dogs, but he’d seen them enough times now to know they meant him no harm.  He could even be coaxed out to interact with them once given enough time to calm down and acclimate to their presence.   Still, he needed that time before he was willing to venture out of his little haven and Grillby wasn’t about to rush him.  He took off his gloves, placing them neatly by the sink, and went to answer the door.  

Dogamy and Dogaressa stood in the shadow of his doorway, a bundle of black cloth held protectively close in the latter’s arms.  They wore matching grim expressions which tempered with relief at the sight of him.  “We found him,” the woman said simply, the sorrow in her tone conveying what words could not.  For a heart stopping moment, Grillby was afraid that the child they’d gone to rescue had died and all they had brought back was a pile of dust.  Then the black cloth she held shifted of its own accord, a ripple of movement beneath it hinting at the shape and form of something very much alive.  

A sharp gasp drew his attention and he saw that the boy had crept up silently behind him to investigate.  Papyrus trembled, shaking so hard that his small frame clattered, staring up not in surprise but in anguish.  A high pitched whine tumbled from him, quiet and keening.  The bundled figure in Dogaressa’s arm twitched in response.  A pale, bony muzzle tied shut with stark white bandages poked out from the folds of thick, black cloth.  Papyrus let out a startled yip, the sound quickly morphing into a deep growl that reverberated through his ribs.  He changed, effortlessly dropping to all fours as his spine lengthened and his joints popped into a new configuration, until he could bare sharp fangs and brandish wicked claws.  He crouched as if ready to pounce, growling and hissing at the guards.  

“It’s alright pup,” Dogamy said as soothingly as he could, following up the words with a few soft barks.  “We brought him back, he won’t be taken away from you again.”

The reassurances did nothing to calm the skeletal child.  Papyrus let out another clicking hiss, little sparks of light leaping from his mouth as magic sputtered inside him.  Hearing his distress, the other child began to struggle.  A faint scraping sound rumbled behind his teeth, the attempted response cut off with a choking cough.  

Dogaressa adjusted her grip, clearly fearful of dropping the small creature.  “I should put him down.”

“Yes, I think so,” the flame agreed readily.  Not only would it hopefully calm Papyrus, but some part of the elemental was all but desperate to see the new arrival himself.  No, not just see him, to help him.  To care for this beast-child as if he was his own even though neither he nor Papyrus truly was.  Grillby chalked it up to the gnawing guilt that had plagued him ever since 1-S had been lost to them.  This was his too long awaited chance to try and make things right.  

The fire elemental led them to the room that had been set up for the kids to stay in.  He’d quickly discovered that, while Papyrus did enjoy the soft surface and warm blankets of his bed, he didn’t care much for the way they’d been arranged.  The once smooth bedding had been quickly puled free and tangled into a nest which the young skeleton would bury himself beneath to rest.  So, with that in mind, the elemental removed the blanket from the second bed and gathered the sheet into a cozy mound in the center of the mattress.  Dogaressa, who had been following close behind him, carefully laid the rescued child down and unwrapped him from the dark material of her cloak.

Papyrus darted past, weaving between the older monsters’ legs with the grace and speed of a predator, and leapt up onto the bed to stand over his sibling.  He turned to face the dogs, paws braced and spine arched, and let out a threatening growl that even Grillby could understand.  No one would be touching his brother without his permission.

Dogaressa held her hands out in a show of peace, her mate slowly approaching with a similar gesture.  “Calm down little pup.  We’re not going to hurt anyone, we just want to make sure he’s comfortable.”

The boy responded with a clicking hiss that spat sparks.  His brother was hurt, bandaged and weak and smelling so strongly of foreign magic and chemicals that even the fire elemental was aware of it.  That had flipped a switch in Papyrus, banishing the curious, cautious little boy Grillby had been getting to know and calling back the dangerous beast.  Dark blue and orange light flickered madly in his eye sockets.

“They only want to help,” Grillby said as he edged closer, letting his warm glow precede him.  “They rescued him.”

But the child wasn’t in the mood to listen.  He let out another hiss and snapped his jaws shut so fast that they clacked painfully together.  

Grillby knelt on the floor beside the bed.  “Papyrus, do you trust me?” he asked as calmly as  he could.

Papyrus hesitated, drawn to the newly chosen name as much as the monster who’d given it to him.  He growled, gaze flicking from person to person, tense frame rattling faintly.  The elemental could all but see the proverbial gears turning as he struggled to resolve what his instincts told him and what he believed to be true.  Eventually, his expression softened and he answered with a barely discernible nod.

“Will you let me help him?”

Another little nod, this one clearer than the last.  He hunched a bit lower, curving his spine over the prone body of his sibling.  There would be no moving him, not that Grillby wanted to try, but at least now the fire monster’s presence was permitted.  

It was a bit difficult to study the new arrival with Papyrus in the way, but Grillby peered around his long, skeletal form to see the figure lying beneath him.  The two were remarkably similar, but not, as the elemental had previously assumed, identical in this form.  Papyrus was a bit longer, a bit taller, his muzzle more pronounced.  The crest of his skull curved in a different way, points arcing slightly inward rather than back.  He thought the boy’s eye sockets might be different as well, more narrowed while those belonging to the creature he’d first seen behind the bar were wider, but that was a comparison that he couldn’t accurately make just yet because those wide eyes were shut tight.  

A bandage wound around the second skeleton’s skull, concealing almost half of his face from view.  Another was tied around his ribs, holding them in alignment even as his chest rose and fell in jerky, uneven breaths.  A black collar stood out in sharp contrast to the white bandages which covered his neck.  Grillby had seen the soft wrappings around his muzzle already, but he was surprised to find similar ties pinning his limbs together in pairs, bound tight from wrists to knees.  He’d barely managed the lightest touch when the child jerked violently away from him.  His one visible eye socket opened wide, the light that resided in it constrained to a pinprick and burning bright as a distant star.  Papyrus snapped his teeth in the elemental’s direction, the distance between them more than enough to prove the action had no harmful intent, and hissed to make his displeasure known.  

“It’s alright,” Grillby whispered to the pair, “everything’s going to be alright.”  

He tried again, inching his hand forward so that they could both track his movements.  The wounded creature still flinched at his touch, trembling and letting out a warped little sound of distress, but did not pull away as a warm palm brushed against his muzzle.  Grillby carefully pulled at the thick wrapping.

“That might be a bad idea,” Dogamy cautioned, looking more than a little twitchy himself.  “We took it off before but he wouldn’t stop trying to bite everyone.”

“Thank you for your concern,” Grillby replied in a tone that made it sound more like a counter argument than actual gratitude.  He unwound the material, loosening the bonds until he could slide the entire thing free.  Before he could retreat, the creature latched onto his hand.  Small, sharp teeth dug into solid flames.  His first instinct, as it was with most things, was heat.  The elemental’s magic surged in his soul, ready and waiting to direct a blaze of power to the affected limb.  He could burn so hot, so bright, that nothing would dare touch him.  Grillby restrained that power, drawing heat away from his hands rather than letting it flood into them.  The very last thing he wanted to do was burn the poor thing and lose what fragile trust he’d built up with the pair.  The only unfortunate part was, that left him trapped until the skeletal child decided to let him go.  The dogs, hovering anxiously as if torn about the idea of prying the creature off of him, at least had the courtesy not to say 'I tried to warn you’, even if he wouldn’t have begrudged them a bit of gloating.

Papyrus let out a soft, worried whimper, his gaze flicking from Grillby to his brother and then back again.  He trilled to his sibling, the sound as sweet and musical as a bird’s song.  When his efforts earned him a muffled hiss of a reply, he tried again.  He dipped his head, nudging his sibling’s tied legs with the end of his muzzle, and crooned to him with a low, imploring call.  The creature’s white hot gaze flickered.  He whined softly, a tattered kind of sound, and his mouth dropped open.  Grillby gingerly removed his hand.  Small holes adorned his fiery skin.  The wounds were already filling in, a simple thing to accomplish as they’d caused no serious damage, yet he couldn’t deny that the bite had stung quite a bit.  Dogaressa and Dogamy moved to check the injury but he waved them off.  There were more pressing matters to focus on.

Wisps of pale smoke escaped the child’s muzzle.  Traces of ash stained his teeth.  His breath came in ragged pants that sent little jolts along his frame.  Slowly, his head tilted to the side as the white pin light of his eye roamed between the assembled monsters.  His wary gaze stayed on them even as he lowered his head, closing his mouth around the delicate looking joints of one of his forelegs.  Fangs scraped over bone, idly gnawing like a trapped animal seriously considering chewing its own foot off.  

Whining in distress at the self-destructive behavior, Papyrus carefully maneuvered around his brother.  He pawed gently at the other child’s skull and pressed his snout to the edge of his jaw, gingerly nudging him until his fangs had been pried free.  That single, seeking light slid over to him, widening into a glowing white disk.  The boy called 1-S let out a muted sound, all regret and relief and wordless questions, that Grillby had no name for.   Papyrus returned it, just as mysterious and meaningful.  He stepped around his sibling, slinking and circling until he found enough space to wedge himself between his brother and he headboard.  He changed just as fluidly, reaching forward with paws that became hands before they connected with gentle, careful touches.  

With 1-S now distracted, Grillby reached for the wrappings tying the child’s legs only to find a broad paw blocking him.  “You really should leave those for now,” Dogamy cautioned, his tone stern and sad.  “We tied them ourselves.  They’re padded and shouldn’t be too uncomfortable.”

“But why?  Surely he won’t try to run.”  If that was even possible in his condition.  While the fire monster knew that such a thing would be dangerous and should be prevented lest the boy aggravate his injuries or, even worse, run into one of the townspeople still paranoid about wild, magic infused animals prowling the forest, he still didn’t like the idea of leaving him bound this way.  These children were not his prisoners and they didn’t deserve to be treated as such.  

“Because he nearly hurt himself one too many times.”  Dogamy sighed deeply.  It was clear that he too regretted binding the child that way, but he saw no other safe options.  “Hopefully he’ll calm down soon and they can be removed, but until then this is for his safety, not ours.”

Papyrus cast a cautious glance up at the dogs.  Despite the smaller, more harmless seeming shape he’d taken on, he was no less wild.  It was impossible to look at him and not know he was something more than an ordinary monster.  “You helped?” he questioned, a soft growl underscoring his words.

“We tried.”  Dogaressa took her mate’s hand in her own, a deep sadness clinging to the both of them.  

“T-the man.”  The small skeleton’s voice wavered, fear eclipsing his protective ferocity.  “Tall man … “

The woman knew what he meant, and anger flashed in her eyes at the mere mention of the doctor.  “He was sent away.  The king will punish him for what he did, and he’ll never get his hands on either of you again.”  Her words carried with them and unspoken promise.  If justice failed them and Gaster tried to reclaim these children, she would rip him to pieces herself.  

Papyrus looked away, once more focusing his attention on the sibling that had been stolen from him.  Grillby didn’t understand the sounds he made, and judging by how alien and strange they were he wasn’t sure if the guards could either, but there was a gratitude in them that transcended the confines of language.  He sat against the headboard, his sibling’s head cradled in his lap, and curled over the other boy, shielding him from view and harm.  One hand shook as it ghosted over the bandaged skull of his brother.  His other arm was flung over the creature’s shoulder in an awkward embrace.  The boy trilled, soft and sad.  He leaned a bit closer, delicately pressing his skull to his sibling’s in a gentle nuzzle, tears falling onto bone with a near silent splash.  

“Let’s give them some space,” Grillby said, already starting to herd his guests out of the room.  He turned on a small lamp and flicked off the overhead light, plunging the room into the sort of cool shadow that Papyrus seemed most at ease with.  The dim light caught on pale white bone, making the two small figures stand out despite the darkness.  There was more to be done, wounds to tend to, trust to earn, and Papyrus should take another dose of medicine before the evening was done to make sure his illness was kept at bay, but for the time being he suspected that the best thing for both boys would be time spent together in the calm quiet of this safe place.  

The adults retreated to the living room, Dogaressa and Dogamy gratefully accepting the invitation to sit a while on the couch.  They looked weary in a way that went straight through to the soul.  The elemental offered to make them tea or coffee, but both canines politely refused.  

“What happened?” he asked at last, unable to put off the unpleasant topic any longer.  It had only been a few days since the child had been taken from them, and to see him returned in such a state was troubling.  

Husband and wife exchanged a meaningful glance.  This information was no doubt tied into a very sensitive investigation, but luckily they seemed to agree that he was trustworthy enough to hear it.  “We’re not that clear on the details but … does the word 'determination’ mean anything to you?”

Grillby tensed, flames popping and crackling as little ashen sparks drifted into the air around him.  “Why do you ask?” he questioned, knowing his reaction made it all too clear that he knew what they were referring to.

“Doctor Gaster did something to his soul.”  Dogaressa shuddered in a way that had nothing to do with temperature.  Her hands clenched into tight fists that did not stop trembling even when her mate laid his own gently over them.  “We don’t know what, but whatever it was, it had something to do with Determination.  His health is very low and nothing we tried could restore it.  Healing magic won’t work either, his body and magic are too contaminated.”

The last word was all but spat out, as if it too were poisonous.  There was a faint crackling sound as the elemental cursed in a way few could hear and fewer could understand.  Enough Determination to stain his magic and soul but not so much that his body melted away.  Grillby didn’t pretend to know the finer points of the substance, but he’d heard enough to know that was a delicate balance to achieve.  It would have been impressive had the man responsible not been playing with an innocent child’s life.  At least 1-S had survived it.  With time, patience, and care, his condition was bound to improve.  

“I’ll take care of him,” he said, solemn as an oath.  

“Thank you.”  A fraction of the weight she carried with her seemed to lift from Dogaressa’s shoulders.  “The collar’s been mostly deactivated, but we didn’t want to risk hurting him further by trying to remove it just yet.  And his ribs were cut open, so don’t go moving him unless you have to.”

Not broken, but cut.  Deliberate.  Intentional.  “And his eye?” Grillby managed to ask, though even voicing the question left him feeling faintly ill.

Dogamy shook his head slowly.  “We don’t know yet.”

“Maybe, once he’s recovered some, we can try taking him to a healer again.  Or perhaps have someone come here.”  Once the child’s system stabilized and the 'contamination’ was dealt with, the elemental hoped that a skilled healer might be able to fix what the doctor had broken.  

A hint of a smile returned to the canine’s face.  “Are you sure you’ll be alright having both of them here?”

“They can stay as long as they need or want to.  I’ve got the room and Papyrus has been very well behaved so far.”  Perhaps too well behaved, if he was being honest.  The little skeleton didn’t ask for much, had yet to demand his time or attention, and he didn’t even play.  Grillby had to wonder if he even knew how to.  

“Papyrus?” Dogaressa asked, raising a furry brow ridge.  The guards must have heard him call the boy that earlier, but they had all been too busy to really make note of it.

Grillby’s flame burnt slightly hotter, embarrassment coloring his face a deeper red.  “He needed a real name.”

“I think you’re right,” she said, approval brightening her tone at last.  The dogs stood and she reached out to take his hand.  “Let us know the moment you need anything.”

“I will,” he promised, the knot of tension that had resided in his chest loosening as the reality of what had occurred set in.  “And I’ll let you know when they’re feeling up for visitors.”  He knew that Dogaressa and Dogamy would be eager to see the children once they’d settled, even if he feared it might take them quite some time to accept their company.  They had a lot of healing to do in every sense of the word, and he wasn’t even sure if Papyrus would be able to convince his brother than he only wanted to help.  This would not be a simple matter, Grillby had no delusions about that, but it was worth the effort.  

Once the guards said their goodbyes and left, the apartment was once again quiet and still.  The elemental wanted to go check on the boys, but he knew better than to barge in just yet.  Instead, he stood just outside the door and listened to the soft, lyrical trills coming from the bed.  The children were together and safe and whole at last.  And to his surprise, he found that he would do anything to keep it that way. 


	12. Chapter 12

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I bet to most people reading this it seems like I took a week off ... but actually I didn't. Last week's update was a sidestory called A Thief In the Night which is a pov shift for 1-S. Which reminds me ...
> 
> This fic is officially part of a series. Yay! So you can read the sidestory by clicking on the link. The sequel will also be posted under this series too, very soon in fact. I can wait till next week to post part 1 or if enough people are interested I can do it before the weekend, either way~. (there's also a oneshots collection, mostly fluffy stuff, set between stories or after the sequel .... almost all tumblr prompts from fluff week, though I do want to write some more things for it ... noooot really sure when I should post that one but it will end up here one way or another)
> 
> More on all that in the end notes. For now, I hope you enjoy chapter 12 and thank you SO MUCH to everyone who read, liked, and/or commented, you guys are amazing!!!

Living in the perpetual twilight of the underground, it was all too easy to lose track of time.  Normally that wasn’t a problem for Grillby.  His own innate sense of time passing was very reliable, a handy skill to have when it came to making sure he closed the bar on time each night and sent the last few inebriated or otherwise addled stragglers back to their homes.  Lately though, whenever he glanced at the clock on his wall he was surprised to see how much time had slipped away from him.  The days since his decision to take in two mysterious children had blurred together, all attempts at keeping them and himself on a regular schedule long since tossed out the proverbial window.  

It wasn’t that the kids were that much trouble, at least in the conventional sense.  The new arrival spent most of his time asleep, too drained of both energy and magic to manage much else, but it was not a peaceful rest.  He would wake in a blind panic at the slightest provocation, hissing as faint sparks flickered and faded inside his skull.  Grillby had learned quickly that any action he took to try and defuse the situation wasn’t going to be helpful or wanted.  He’d lost count of the number of times the two children had snapped at him, though only 1-S had ever actually bitten him and even then it had only done damage twice.  He couldn’t blame the boy for being afraid and lashing out.  The dogs had spared him the details of what they’d found in the lab but one look at the surgically precise cut that carved through his ribs was enough to make even the fire elemental feel cold.  

It took Papyrus days to convince his brother to stop trying to frantically claw at himself and everything around him any time the bonds tying his legs were loosened.  It was much needed progress, though it seemed that nothing could break him of the habit entirely.  The empty, almost methodical way he scratched at his skull or scraped his teeth across any exposed bone he could reach made Grillby uneasy.  Papyrus, however, took it all in stride, stopping the behavior with what looked like practiced as if he’d seen it a hundred times.  Sometimes, when 1-S was deeply asleep, Grillby would even catch Papyrus, curled up in his quadruped form, dragging his fangs across the bones of his paws or chewing on his own tail with the sort of vacant look that only a monster who lacked physical eyes could achieve.  

Trying to manage meals was a unique sort of challenge.  Papyrus was still eager to eat, the memory of starvation clinging too close for comfort, but the promise of new flavors or textures didn’t quite hold the same appeal that it had.  Not when he couldn’t share them.  For someone in such obvious need of good nutrition, it had been surprisingly difficult to get 1-S to eat.  It wasn’t for lack of interest or even attempt, at least not once Papyrus had soothed his obvious fears and Grillby had offered to taste the food himself to prove that it was safe, but rather a lack of ability.  Far too much of those first few days was underscored by painful sounding retching as the child’s body rejected the nourishment it so desperately needed yet had failed to process.  

Papyrus wouldn’t leave his brother for even a second.  His condition deteriorated as the boy refused to rest, staying ever vigilant at his sibling’s side as if his presence alone could fend off the night terrors that shook the other child awake.  He rarely slept even after the beds were pushed together, and when he did it was only while curled protectively around 1-S in his beast-like form, their ribs all but laced together as the larger creature shielded his brother from view.  His energy and magic dwindled as he pushed himself beyond what food could restore, which in turn affected his appetite, and the medicine Grillby had been giving him to get his cough and fever under control could no longer keep him going.  

No one thought it wise to bring a healer in just yet.  Though the children needed help, the sudden intrusion of a stranger, especially a doctor, would only do more harm than good.  The last thing anyone wanted was to break this fragile trust the elemental had been working so hard to build between them.  So instead, Dogaressa read through the most recent notes that had been confiscated from the royal scientist’s labs in search of answers and was able to find what they needed.  While the primary source of distress for 1-S was rooted in Determination, the result of an experiment the likes of which Grillby shuddered to even imagine, he also suffered from a lingering infection and a mild case of magic focused pneumonia.  He’d already been treated for those conditions, so it was just a matter of continuing said treatment and hoping he could pull through the rest on his own.  Papyrus was a bit harder to figure out, as there were obviously no reports about him since their arrival in Snowdin, but comparing symptoms it seemed clear that he too was afflicted with pneumonia, albeit a much more severe case.  The medicine Grillby had been treating him with was good for a cold or even a magic focused flu but could only ever mask the symptoms of an illness that severe.  One trip to a Waterfall based doctor who could be trusted to keep a secret later, Dogaressa had returned to Grillby’s apartment with a bag full of medications and a list of instructions about how to best care for the little skeletons.  At least, she and the healer both hoped they would work best, it was hard to tell since skeletons were rare monsters who didn’t always respond the same way to magic and medicine that others did.  As a being of pure fire who faced similar difficulties, Grillby could relate.  

It broke the elemental’s heart to watch these children struggle.  He’d thought them shockingly mature at first, facing each challenge without a single word of complaint, until he realized that it wasn’t so much maturity as it was a disheartening mix of grim resignation and naivete.  They didn’t ask for help because they didn’t believe any would be offered.  They didn’t complain because the few times Papyrus caught himself whining in Grillby’s presence he’d flinched back as if waiting to be struck and would not respond no matter how the elemental tried to reassure him.  They didn’t look for something more, something better, because they didn’t believe that anything like that could exist for them.  

It was those thoughts that drove him to stand outside the door to their room, flickering anxiously as he debated the course of action that he’d been so sure of until now.  He had been trying to give them their space and stay out of the way for fear of upsetting them, but now that thought seemed cruel.  True the kids weren’t exactly comfortable around him yet, but when the alternative was leaving them to fend for themselves, subservient to a vicious fear driven cycle that was running them into the ground, a little discomfort seemed worth it.  He opened the door just the slightest bit, not wanting to intrude if by some miracle Papyrus was actually asleep, and peered inside.  They were just where he’d left them, 1-S dozing fitfully and Papyrus curled around him, long, thin fingers hooked into his sibling’s exposed ribs as if he feared the other boy might be ripped from his grasp at any moment.  Though he was still and silent, he was not asleep.  The tension in his frame was proof enough of that.  The door squeaked faintly as Grillby entered and the child snapped out of his stupor, transforming and springing up to stand guard over his sibling.  He snarled, growling faintly at the imagined threat, and 1-S began to twitch beneath him.  

“It’s alright,” Grillby whispered, holding his hands as proof that there would be no unwelcome surprises.  It wasn’t a necessary gesture any longer, in truth it hadn’t been since those first few days, but it had come to symbolize something more between them.  It was a promise to do no harm and a silent request to be permitted into this private space.  “It’s only me.”

Papyrus gradually relaxed, breaking the rigid protective stance that came so naturally to him, but he still rattled faintly as his weary bones trembled.  He sat heavily on the bed, leaning against his brother and nuzzling him gently until he settled as well.  

“Sorry, I didn’t mean to scare you.”  Grillby left the door open.  The boys didn’t like being penned in with a third person in the room.  He stood near the bed, crouching to be more on their level.  “You should get some sleep.  I could watch him for you.”

The elemental had hoped that his offer would be welcomed, that Papyrus might finally agree to get some real rest so long as he knew his sibling was being looked after in his absence.  He was mistaken.  Claws flashed, catching the light as they swept through the air, underscored by an angry hiss.  

Grillby held up his hands again, backing a step away.  “It’s okay.  You don’t have to do anything that you don’t want to.”

Fright and fury slowly drained away from the skittish child.  He ducked his head, shoulders slumping.  The long, thin tail which sprouted through a discrete hole cut into his pants curled tight around his ankles and he let out a tiny whine that the elemental had come to recognize as an apology.  Now that the danger had passed, because even though they had left no lasting damage on him so far those bone claws still hurt, Grillby once more edged closer.  He sat on the end of the bed, making sure to leave enough space between himself and the children that he wouldn’t unintentionally appear threatening.  Papyrus watched him with something not unlike wariness, dark blueish shadows cast beneath weary eye sockets.  He knew that the elemental cared, that he had given them only good and helpful things and never caused either child harm, but his protective instincts were on overdrive.  

“You don’t have to do this on your own either.  I know it’s frightening and new, but nothing will harm either of you here.  No one is going to take him away again because I won’t let them.”  Grillby reached towards the little creature, waiting patiently for Papyrus to flinch the way he always did and going no further until the fear left those dimly glowing eyes. At last he felt the faint brush of a bony muzzle against his palm and knew he was welcome.  He ran his hand along trembling bone, petting the child’s skull and frowning at the lingering heat present there.  “You two are not alone anymore.”

Papyrus let out a little sob, the sound oddly warped as it burst forth from his muzzle.  He leaned in and all but collapsed against the elemental, and before he could even register what was happening, the fire monster was wrapping his arms tight around the shaking body of a small skeleton child.  

So Grillby watched over the kids as they slept, clinging to one another in a trembling tangle of thin limbs and heated bone.  His gloved hands ran a cloth soaked in cold water over their skulls until the tension in their features eased.  He fed them home made soup when they woke despite having earned himself numerous painful water burns for his trouble, made sure that they took the medication Dogaressa had brought even though he had to go to great lengths to convince them it was safe, warmed their little bones when fever gave way to chills, and coaxed both children back to sleep each time they struggled free from the grasp of their nightmares.  By the time they’d come through the worst of it, even 1-S no longer growled when he entered the room.  

The boys still jumped at unexpected sounds and shrunk back in fear whenever anyone opened the door to their little sanctuary, even though they knew the only people that could enter it were safe.  Their new guardian did not expect any different.  This was not a battle to be fought and won, but rather a journey with no foreseeable end.  Each step in the right direction was to be savored and celebrated, no matter how small, so he put his own stinging feelings aside and looked to what he could do to help the skittish pair.  It was clear to him that they needed something more to help them feel safe and secure in this new environment.  Remembering the way Papyrus stuck to darkened, shadowy places, Grillby set about constructing something that he hoped would do the trick.  

One end of a thick blanket was secured to the wall with tacks and the other was draped over the ends of the bed frames and held in place with twine, creating a sloping sort of tent.  The elemental fashioned walls out of towels and safety pins, leaving one flap mostly loose so that it could be pinned back when the children wanted to see out and pulled down when they felt the need to hide.  It was no miracle fix, few things ever were even when magic was involved, but it did help set the children at ease to have a dark, secret space all their own where no one could see them.  Papyrus even started referring to it as their new nest, which had to be some sort of progress.  

The elemental crept down the hallway.  He almost always moved quietly, but these days he was taking extra effort to make sure that his shoes did not strike the wooden floors too hard or cause the odd loose boards to squeak.  The door to the boys’ room was half open and the tent flap still pulled aside  from when Grillby had brought them a small breakfast of scrambled eggs and toast, something simple enough for 1-S to process easily but with a mixture of textures that ever curious Papyrus enjoyed.  The children were improving every day, perhaps not by leaps and bounds but enough that he believed they were on the right track, and never was that more apparent than when he managed to look in on them without them noticing.  

They were both awake this time, an occurrence that was finally becoming more common.  1-S lay on his side much as he had since his arrival, his injured rib cage making it difficult for him to be comfortable any other way, but his legs were drawn close to his body and his head was held up without any signs of shaking.  His bright eye lights, or at least the one that remained visible, were aware and alert in a way that had seemed impossible not too long ago.  Grillby had yet to see this child in any other form but the canine-like shape he currently wore, but he tried not to let that worry him.  The boys seemed to feel safer that way since they were stronger, faster, and more resilient like that than when they appeared more like ordinary monsters.  Besides, 1-S hadn’t exactly had much energy to spare on things like transformation.  Papyrus, on the other hand, was comfortable in any shape now that he’d gotten used to his new environment and switched between them easily.  He sat cross legged, spine hunched as he leaned close to his sibling, gesturing with his hands as he talked animatedly in a mix of words and sounds.  The medicine had worked wonders on him, and Grillby was seeing that spark of cheer he’d glimpsed before blossom into a lively personality just as boisterous as it was fierce.  It was a shame that his friendly nature was all too easily lost whenever fear or worry took hold of him.  

“Grillby,” the child said between a series of barks and what sounded like a bird’s trill.  At first the elemental thought himself discovered, but the child carried on as if he wasn’t even there.  “Nice master.”

The word hit him like a bucket of cold water.  Master.  Was that what this boy truly thought of him?  “No,” the elemental said sharply, instantly regretting his tone as the kids both jumped and flinched away from him.  Their eye lights burned small and brilliant in the shadows of their nest.  He’d frightened them.  The boys huddled together, Papyrus leaning over his brother in a way that would have seemed almost accidental if he hadn’t been perfectly positioned to shield him from any oncoming blows.  Guilt further soured the lingering horror that the elemental felt.  

Grillby took a moment to calm himself and reign in his flaring flames.  “I’m sorry I snapped like that.  You didn’t do anything wrong and you’re not going to be punished.  It’s alright.”  He hated that there was a need for such words, hated even more the fact that he’d gotten used to saying them, but it seemed like that reassurance was the only thing that could get through to the pair when they thought they had committed some unforgivable crime.  “But … no.  I’m not your master.”

1-S curled his tail around his sibling and nudged him, gingerly pressing his snout against the other boy’s side.  He whined something that Grillby could not hope to guess the meaning of, his voice still soft and gravely, and his sibling echoed the call a bit louder.  Papyrus stared up at the elemental.  The lights in his eyes flickered unsteadily.  “N-not … do you … not want us?”

The elemental’s soul felt like it might just crack under the weight of that stare.  “That’s … that’s not what I meant.”  Keeping control of his fire was difficult, but he didn’t so much as spark as he crossed the room and knelt close to the bed.  “Do you remember what I told you when you chose your new name?”  

Papyrus nodded, but the gesture was small and hesitant.  Something in him clearly wanted to run from this, yet he remained rigidly still.  1-S had his head down, watching carefully yet desperately trying to appear as if he wasn’t.  Putting them on the spot, even with simple questions, didn’t seem to be a particularly good idea.  Grillby made a mental note to himself about that and hoped he would remember it.

“You’re not an experiment or a weapon or an animal.  You’re a child,” he said, calm and soothing without a trace of the horror that had burned so strong in him.  He reached out, waited until Papyrus was willing to bridge the gap between them, and let the gentle heat of his palm warm the cool bones of the boy’s cheek.  A soft, cooing trill answered him.  Grillby repeated the gesture towards 1-S, and after an achingly long few moments the other boy also allowed himself to be touched.  It was the first time his newer charge had accepted that kind of contact.  Bright hope blossomed in his chest, chasing away the lingering chill that had settled there and replacing it with a warmth he could not name.  “You’re both children, and you don’t need a master.”  

The boys exchanged a look of wordless confusion.  Papyrus started to whimper something but caught himself and switched to words instead.  “If not … m-master … what are you?”

“Well, I … “  The answer eluded him.  What was he to these kids?  He’d agreed to take them in out of concern and, admittedly, a bit of guilt, but now he found that he didn’t want to think about handing them over to anyone else.  They trusted him, and that was an honor he did not take lightly.  What was he in their lives and what did he want to be?  He wasn’t exactly sure.  He fed them and nursed them and protected the pair as much as he was able to, but did that make him their guardian?  Their parent?  He scooted a bit closer to them, placing an arm around either child, and was pleasantly surprised when they gradually relaxed into the warmth of his touch.  “I’m someone who cares a great deal about both of you and wants you to be happy and healthy and safe.”

“But what is that?”

They were genuinely baffled by the idea that someone might take care of them because of such altruistic reasons, and there was something terribly sad about that.  Grillby forced a smile and pet the pair on the head.  “Whatever you want it to be.”

That was clearly not the answer Papyrus was looking for.  He made a soft grumbling sound, brow ridge furrowed and teeth clenched tight together, as he pondered a solution that seemed far too simple to be true.  No great epiphany came to him, but a different thought chased away the confusion and replaced it with eager excitement.  “Ooh,” he exclaimed, warm light suddenly flaring to life in his eyes.  “Name.”

The sudden switch of topic left both the elemental and the other skeleton feeling a bit lost, but that didn’t seem to bother Papyrus.  

“Name,” the boy said again, bouncing on the bed and jostling the entire tent in his eagerness.  “Brother needs name.”

1-S stared up at his sibling, head cocked to the side.  His confusion was more than apparent even without any sound behind it.  His tail flicked anxiously, catching his sibling’s attention.  

“You do,” Papyrus insisted, interpreting the look as a form of protest.  If the little huff and frown he received in return was any indication, he was right.  

Grillby was inclined to agree with Papyrus.  He hadn’t pressed the issue before, there had been far more important things clamoring for his attention at the time, but he didn’t like knowing that one of the kids in his care didn’t have a name of his own.  The elemental had gone out of his way to never refer to the child as ‘1-S’, at least not when either of the boys could hear him, because he didn’t want them associating him with that designation and all the awful things tied to it.  Their numbers were part of a past which he would not allow to reclaim them.  “Alright.  What sort of name should it be?”

“S name!” Papyrus cheered, his eyes shining like little stars.  

Grillby chuckled softly and his flames crackled merrily along with it.  He’d apparently been right in thinking that this kid would take best to a name that started with his own designated letter, and Papyrus clearly wanted to carry on that tradition.  “Well, let’s see,” he said as he thought back over the skeletons he’d met in the past and the families they had told him about.  “There’s Script, Segoe, Sans-Serif, Sylph-”

Papyrus cut him off with an excited yip.  If he’d had a long tail at the time, no doubt he’d have been wagging it so fast it would have been a blur.  He looked to his sibling who answered the wordless question with a thoughtful little bark of his own.  

“That one!” the child said, nodding along with the statement.

“Which?  The last one?”

“No no, before that.”

The elemental tried to remember which name had come where in the list he’d cobbled together.  “Sans-serif?”

“No,” Papyrus whined again, just for a moment looking exaggeratedly frustrated like any other child would be when they struggled to be understood.  “Just the first part.  The Sans part.”

Ooh, so that was what he meant.  Grillby considered pointing out what he knew of skeleton names, how they were meant to reflect the voice of the one they represented, but on second thought he decided to keep that information to himself for a while.  The word sans meant 'without’, and in that way it was oddly appropriate that such a name might be chosen for someone who’d gone without a name or a voice for so long.  It would be unusual, but then, everything about these children was unusual.  “If you like it, then it’s yours.”

1-S blinked up at him, seemingly astonished at how simple the naming process had been.  He cocked his head to the side, the tip of his tail tapping against his leg as it flicked anxiously.  He let out a breathy sounding bark unlike what Grillby had heard from the kids before, once to himself then again to his brother.

“Mhmm,” the other boy said, then he barked back the same sound but with a decidedly more assured tone.  Whatever misgivings his sibling had about the name, Papyrus erased them with ease.  

The other skeleton hissed softly.  Grillby almost backed away again, having heard similar sounds as warnings before, but this hiss had no anger or fear behind it.  It was curious.  Testing.  He hissed again, this time with a little 'eh’ at the end, and the elemental realized that he was trying to say his new name.  Trying and failing.  Long, thin jaws like his weren’t designed to handle monster words.  Two more attempts failing to produce much more then a 'sseh’ left him grumbling to himself in quiet frustration.

Papyrus giggled softly and reached over to pat him on the nose.  Grillby’s fire glowed, the tips of his flames tinged with radiant gold.  He hadn’t even dared to hope he’d see the children like this.  Papyrus trilled, a bright, clear sound, and not even the stubborn head shake his brother gave him in response could dampen his cheer.  “Safe,” he said after another little trill.  “Promise.”

After a few more drawn out moments of resistance, the other skeleton heaved a little sigh and nodded.  He shuddered, a shiver racing down his spine, and slowly began to change.  Bit by bit, the harsh angles and sharp edges that adorned his form were replaced by smooth planes and sloped curves.  He shrank down, taking on a shape very similar to the one Papyrus currently wore yet, just like with their quadruped bodies, still distinctly different.  He was shorter for one, with small hands and feet made of bones so thin and delicate they looked like a bird’s.  Where the taller child had a strong, squared jaw, this boy’s was rounded and soft in a way the elemental had never seen on a skeleton, giving him a fixed smile that looked almost gentle.  The wide eye sockets of his other form carried over, now looking almost owlish.  A far cry from the ferocious looking creature that had stalked the woods behind the bar, and yet the two were one in the same.  White light flickered to life within his one visible eye, growing slightly brighter as he looked up and focused on the elemental hovering anxiously nearby.  Grillby held his breath.  

Skeletal hands slid beneath the boy as Papyrus helped the smaller child sit up.  He scooted closer and wrapped his arm around his brother’s shoulders, giving him something solid and familiar to lean on in more ways than one.  “Try again.”

“sans,” the child whispered.  His voice was scratchy and broken, but beneath the harsh rasp Grillby could hear hints of something pleasingly dulcet.  “i … my name … is sans.”

The taller child beam as bright as any flame.  “And mine is Papyrus.”

The brothers grinned at each other, caught up in a happiness so powerful and foreign to them that they had no choice but to let it carry their worries away.  Grillby knew better than to think it would last forever.  There would always be fears and failures and mistakes, but in the end that didn’t matter so long as they were outnumbered by moments like this.  He wanted to foster those moments, to protect these children, for as long as he was able to.  No matter which path their future took, that was a pledge he made to them and to himself.  And when they smiled at him, timid and trusting, he knew he wouldn’t regret it.  

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So, YES I am going to write something else in this series. The second story is going to be called To Last the Night and it’s … it’s gonna be rough. If you thought I was evil in WitD ooh man you don’t even know. But Gaster has to get wrecked bigtime and for that to happen, w-well, let’s say things get dark ( daŗk͝er, ̸y͡èt ͝d͝ar̵ke͠r ). So if anybody doesn’t want to read it I totally understand, but for those of you who do want to join me for more torment … welcome~! As I mentioned, chapter 1 will go up next week, possibly sooner depending on how many people are excited about it (I mean, other than me ... ).


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